The Distant and Not-So-Bright Future
by His Lordship Havoc
Summary: As if the Dominion War wasn't enough, Captain Sisko and the crew of Deep Space 9 find themselves dealing with an unusual visitor whose inhumanly deadly skills and dedication to protecting the human race just might tear the Federation apart. Written as a challengefic. Rated M for lots of violence and battle scenes, not to mention a somewhat awkward and comical attempt at romance.
1. Chapter 1

"Captain, we're approaching Thelos System," called the ensign from the navigation console. "Orders?"

"Drop out of warp and begin the scan," replied Captain Sisko, sitting in the command chair of the _Defiant._ "If the Dominion has tried to occupy or utilize this planet then I want to know about it and find some way to stop them. Try to find any sign of that strange energy signature our remote sensors reported."

"Aye, captain!" said the young ensign.

They waited while the ship disengaged its warp engines, dropped into real space and began scanning the Thelos System for the energy surge no one could explain. The Thelos system was not near the combat zone that delineated the Federation's border with the Cardassian Empire, but it was not so far away as to be implausible that the Dominion might attempt some covert operation from this unexpected direction.

Chief Science Officer Jadzia Dax was standing next to Sisko, watching the main view screen as they observed the system, a small yellow sun with five planets, only two of which were considered habitable. She regarded the system with a critical eye.

"What on earth could the Dominion hope to accomplish from here, Benjamin?" she queried. "Even if they did manage to slip by our front lines _and _the Romulans' forces, which I find unlikely, anything they attempted would be discovered and since it is so isolated from their rest of their lines we could destroy it easily."

"Maybe, but the Dominion has shown remarkable resilience and an amazing ability to build ships and fleets at an alarming rate," Sisko said evenly. "If they are indeed here, then I hope we have caught onto it before they've gotten too far with their plot."

"Just Commander Worf's luck," Jadzia commented, smiling. "He's prowling around the Celestine Nebula with General Martok on the Rotaren when he could be back here fighting the Dominion."

"I am sure Commander Worf is perfectly capable of getting himself into trouble even in a nebula on the Tholian border," Sisko replied. "The Dominion will still be here when he gets back. Helm, what sort of readings are you getting?"

"Nothing unusual, sir, this system is not inhabited by- wait... sir, there is a residual energy reading on the second moon of the fourth planet. It's a small moon, marginally habitable with a thin atmosphere. The energy signature is coming from inside a series of caves on the moon's largest landmass. Faint but it is totally out of place."

"There's your answer, old man," Sisko said, rising and heading for the turbolift. "We'll transport down to the surface and see what the Dominion has in store for us. I'll take a Chief O'Brien and a security detail with me. Dax, you have the bridge. Keep an eye out for Dominion ships."

"Aye, captain!" the Trill officer said easily as she settled down onto the captain's chair.

* * *

Sisko and O'Brien made their way through the tunnels cautiously, accompanied by a squad of ten security troops armed with phaser rifles. He was reasonably certain that the _Defiant _still had a transporter lock on them in case they ran into more than they could handle, but he was not trying to get into a fight yet anyway.

"These are old mining tunnels," O'Brien commented as they moved deeper into the complex. "They go back at least two hundred years, nearly to the first days of the Federation. They were mining for bilitrium to help boost antimatter output in the early years of warp engines."

"Dangerous substance..." Sisko mused almost absently.

"Aye, I've no love fer it," O'Brien continued. "There was one time Odo and I found Quark trying to smuggle-"

The engineer went quiet as Sisko held up a hand, indicating that something was up ahead. The captain deployed the troops he had brought with him in a deep firing pattern, allowing constant protection in case they had to retreat. While Sisko found a point of cover, O'Brien activated his tricorder and began scanning the passageways ahead.

"Captain," he whispered. "A cave ahead, one hundred meters. There's a single life form but I can't tell what it is yet."

Sisko nodded and the party began moving forward, O'Brien still reading the tricorder for anything useful. Several minutes later they had approached the opening of the cave and were ready to either move in or fight. Sisko looked over at his Chief Engineer, who was staring at the readings he was getting in confusion. Sisko got his attention and raised an eyebrow. The Irishman shrugged almost helplessly. Sisko nodded for one of the troopers to get into the room. The man nodded and slipped forward, disappearing from sight.

Several seconds passed and there was a cry of alarm before the trooper came hurtling back out of the cavern and slammed into the wall, dropping unconscious on the floor.

"I know there are eleven of you left," boomed a great voice from within the cavern. "Show yourselves or I will come out and get you!"

Captain Sisko looked at Chief O'Brien and they both stood, their weapons ready. Followed by the remainder of the guard detail, Sisko headed into the cavern and stopped as he laid eyes upon the stranger, sitting on a rock in a corner of the chamber.

He was tall, taller than even the largest Klingon or Naussican Sisko had ever seen or heard of. He wore ornate blue battle armour that had a medieval feel to it but was clearly technologically advanced. In his hands he carried a massive projectile rifle. His black hair was cropped short and he had many silver studs implanted into his right temple. His scarred face was noble but grim, the eyes flashing with merciless cunning. Stylised white 'U's adorned each of the huge pauldrons he wore on his shoulders.

He looked human but somehow came across as much, much more.

The stranger stood tall and announced himself. "I am Andraeus Parmenio, Librarian of the Ultramarines, Fourth Company. Glory to the Emperor of Mankind."

Sisko and O'Brien looked at one another.

"And I thought findin' the Dominion here would be strange..." muttered the engineer.

* * *

**Star Trek: Deep Space 9**

"**The Distant And Not-So-Bright Future"**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own nor did I invent Star Trek: Deep Space 9 or any of its concepts, nor do I own or did I invent Warhammer 40k or its concepts. Extant characters are used for recreational reading only and no profit. Any characters I have created are purely for interaction purposes with the universes borrowed and portrayed. Please enjoy this bit of challengefic fluff. Reviews are welcome, flames will be laughed at. Glory to the Emperor of Mankind!

**Phase I- What The Hell Are You, Anyway?**

The station was abuzz with rumours of a strange humanoid visitor brought back from the uninhabited Thelos system, especially because Captain Sisko had seen fit to transport the person directly to Dr Bashir's medical lab rather than walk him there like any other healthy and functional visitor. What was the mystery? Quark was already taking bets in his bar.

Captain Sisko, Dax, Major Kira and Constable Odo all watched on from a corner of the medbay as Dr Julian Bashir scanned the titanic subject's body with his instruments while his assistants scurried around, trying to track all the data. The huge man, who called himself Andreus, waited stoically, allowing these people to sate their curiosity. It was only at the insistent reasoning of Captain Sisko that he had agreed to remove his battle armour and sat now naked on an examination table. His armour and gear waited in a nearby corner but Julian doubted that the impressive guest needed any of it if he decided to contest the station's mettle.

"So what do we know now, doctor?" Sisko asked as he approached, accompanied by Dax, who was still admiring Andraeus' massively muscled body.

"Captain, I hardly know where to begin," Julian said in his soft English tone. "He is clearly human in origin, but he is altered in many fundamental ways that make him, well... that."

"Genetic engineering?" queried Sisko.

"After a fashion, but not like anything I have ever encountered." Julian admitted. "His impressive body is the result of being rebuilt by implanted organs I have never seen or even dreamed of. If my scans are correct, captain, there are at least eighteen of these things inside him and they all seem to be geared towards turning him into the perfect killing machine."

"Alien technology? Possibly Breen?" Sisko pressed.

Julian smiled and shook his head. "I find that highly unlikely, captain, if for no other reason than Mister Andraeus is human and I somehow doubt any other race would see fit to alter him so."

"So he is not some by-product of the Eugenics Wars."

"I do not believe so, since beings such as Khan Noonien Singh were the products of direct genetic engineering on a level involving DNA and nucleo-peptides, whereas this man's physiology has been altered and continues to be sustained by these organs. To be honest, a lot of what I know has been graciously volunteered by the subject himself."

Dr Bashir led Sisko over to a monitoring station and showed him a diagnostic of Andraeus and he began pointing to various places on the display.

"Take a look here," he said, pointing to the chest cavity. "He has a secondary heart. Over here is a small lung of incredible efficiency that augments the natural two or replaces them entirely if necessary. This small thing here has increased the density and strength of his bones and led to the complete ossification of his ribcage. Another one enhances his senses to what we would consider superhuman levels while this organ produces cells that have replaced the platelets in his blood and allow him to heal or recover from injury at an incredible rate..."

"So what you are saying is that he is essentially built to be a super soldier." Sisko concluded.

Dr Bashir nodded. "So much so that he has some strange black polymer carapace implanted directly beneath his skin and this carapace allows him to interact with that massive armour of his as easily as you and I wear our day-to-day uniforms. One would think he was born inside of that armour."

"Well he doesn't look so bad out of it either..." quipped Dax as she joined the conversation. "But what we still don't know is _who _did this to him and why."

Sisko considered. "He said that he is a servant and warrior of the Emperor of Mankind, whoever that is. We've checked all the data bases of earth's history and while several madmen had claimed the title of 'emperor of mankind', none of them had the means to create a warrior like that."

"That is because I am not from your past, Captain." Andraeus said, standing and walking over to loom over them. Sisko turned to look up at the giant while Dax stared cheerfully at his abdominal muscles, poking them with her finger. Andraeus was three meters tall easily, far beyond any human standard.

"So if you are not from our present or our past, am I to understand that you are from our future?" Captain Sisko asked.

The giant nodded. "Your very distant future, captain. Very, _very_ distant."

Julian considered and shrugged. "While in theory these organs of his could be replicated with our current level of technology, I have no better explanation than what Andraeus offers, Captain. They are sublime and barbaric all at once, not really standard scientific standard protocol for the Federation."

Dax nodded. "And the energy signature we detected in the Thelos caverns did contain tachyon particles and Cherenkov radiation as well, Benjamin, all of which might be consistent with a temporal gate."

"Let's say for the moment that is true," Sisko continued. "The question that begs to be asked is what our visitor from the future is doing here?"

The three of them looked at Andraeus who frowned and shook his head. "I am afraid I have no answer for you there, captain. I was sent as part of a team to the Thelos System to investigate rumours of alien technology found on the moon. Over my vox implant someone said they had found something and then there was a flash and I was suddenly alone. Now I am here, approximately forty thousand years in my own past."

"Forty thousand..." Julian whispered in amazement. Andraeus regretted his choice of words, realizing that these people might not have been ready to hear this. He had yet to tell them he could hear their thoughts because at this point in the distant past, humans with psychic abilities were practically unknown beyond limited and illegal genetic manipulation.

"So, this Imperium of yours," Dax said, softening the moment before disbelief was firmly entrenched. "You said it is protected by... 'Space Marines', like yourself?"

"The Emperor's warriors are myriad, but even so, we barely hold back the enemies of humanity, for they are without number. The mutant, the heretic, the vile alien, they are all..."

Andraeus stopped himself again when he remembered that the ones called Dax, Odo and Kira were aliens. Against all common sense and reasoning, these humans had formed bonds of trust with certain races from other worlds, even after fighting wars with them. How had humanity survived so long?

"I'm just going to assume that aliens in your time are not as agreeable or savoury as we can be these days." Dax said agreeably. "For the sake of the station's continued harmony, at least try to get along with myself and Major Kira then, okay, Andraeus?"

Andraeus' innate distrust of aliens was understandably strong, but given that his own people were working so closely with them as to be unified on this station, he decided to let the matter be for now. He nodded to the Trill woman, whose mind indicated she held no ill will for humanity, nor did the one called Kira.

There were, on the other hand, other aliens on the station he could sense...

* * *

"Well, there's something you don't see every day, Rom," Quark commented as Jadzia led the behemoth visitor into the bar. Andraeus was now wearing a unisuit similar to the station's Starfleet crew but without insignia and replicated to fit his massive frame. Not a single being in the establishment pretended not to stare.

"Goodness, brother," said the Ferengi known as Rom, Quark's younger brother, pausing to observe the new person. "That hu-man is bigger than I guessed they could get. His fist is the size of your head. Lieutenant Dax seems quite taken with him."

"Yes, that happens a lot with her," Quark said with what might have been a tinge of annoyance or jealousy in his voice. "Anything muscle-bound has her rapt attention."

"He certainly is that, brother," Rom agreed, nodding and still staring. "Do you suppose he is a warrior?"

Quark looked at his brother in mild exasperation. "What do you think he is, you half-lobe, a xeno-botanist? Of course he's a warrior, look at the way he's built. Divine Treasury help us if there are more like him coming to the station..."

Andraeus ignored the stares of the bar's patrons. He'd been compelled to duck his head slightly even to get into the establishment. Now he was surrounded by races he had never even heard of. Was the galaxy once so populous with alien species and most had since died out?

He allowed Dax to lead him over to a table in the corner and he waited patiently while some little alien thing with ridiculously big ears and a bulbous head scurried to find some sort of chair that would support him. Once he was seated, the creature, whose mind he could not read or sense, waited on the two of them, massaging his hands together somewhat nervously.

"Hello," he said finally, trying to not show that he was overwhelmed by the size of Andraeus. "I'm Quark, proprietor of this establishment. Welcome to my bar, what is your pleasure?"

"Your death." Andraeus replied, his expression flat.

"I'm... I'm afraid we're fresh out of that today." Quark said, feeling beads of sweat suddenly forming on his neck. Dax playfully swatted Andraeus' hand.

"Be nice, Andraeus," she chided. "Quark, I will have my usual and my guest will have..."

She looked at Andraeus, fishing for some kind of preference or suggestion. He decided to humour the alien female, her intentions were at least honest, if somewhat forward.

"Very well, something strong," he said. "Whatever you have that is strong."

"Are you sure?" Quark warned. "I have some beverages that even Klingons are wary of trying."

"I do not know what a Klingon is, but I am sure I will be fine," Andraeus snorted. "You can bring your entire store of the beverage if you like."

"Oh, now I am not one to question the veracity of your drinking prowess, my friend," Quark said, holding his hands up in a staying gesture. "But there is the matter of the cost. I paid very handsomely for this shipment and while I do not mind parting with a glass or maybe two, I cannot afford to just let-"

"Why am I allowing you to continue living?" Andraeus growled, his glare indicating that his patience with the alien was wearing thin. "Do all your patrons have to undergo this sort of interrogation or just the hu-mans?"

"Quark, bring a bottle of it and I will cover the cost, alright?" Dax interjected, not eager to see her Ferengi compatriot turned into a bloody smear on the deck. "Let's show Andraeus some real Deep Space Nine hospitality."

Quark nodded and retreated to the bar, where he hoped he was, just maybe, out of arm's reach.

Dax smiled. "You'll have to forgive Quark, he is somewhat protective of his profits and wary of imposing strangers. His bar is often the scene of altercations involving Klingons, Nausicaans or others."

"Well his bar is safe as long as I am here," Andraeus said, sternly. "Although my only concern is the protection of my own species."

"Oh come now," Dax said sweetly, giving him one of her legendary dazzling smiles. "Are we aliens really all so bad as that?"

"You smell like an alien." Andraeus pointed out.

Dax was not certain with how to proceed for a moment but recovered admirably. "You... Your Imperium must be a dark place if humans of your time revile aliens so much."

"There are no races we are not at war with one way or another," the Space Marine agreed. "At best we might have tenuous truces or work with the less reprehensible races, but even the most tolerable can be insidious and wish for humanity's destruction. We have been at war for millennia now, since before the inception of the Imperium."

Dax tried to understand what kind of universe might have created the need for such terrible weapons as Andraeus. She sought to expand upon what he had been telling her. "So you said that humanity basically rules the galaxy."

"Yes, the Imperium is more or less that size of the galaxy. There are small enclaves, belonging to races like the Tau, but humanity is the dominant race, you might say."

"What about my people, the Trill?" Dax asked.

"I have never heard of them," Andraeus admitted. "I have fought on hundreds of worlds throughout the galaxy for over four centuries now, and I have never heard of an alien race called the Trill."

Dax faltered for a moment, wondering what had become of her people, forty thousand years from now. "Well maybe they- wait a minute... did you say you've been fighting for over four centuries?"

Andraeus nodded. "I was barely twenty standard years when I was selected to join the Ultramarines. Years of implantation, therapy and training transformed my body into what you see today. We Space Marines are very long-lived by the standards of humanity. Chapter Master Cervan Dante of the Blood Angels is reckoned to be over thirteen hundred years old and our own revered Chapter Master, Lord Commander Marneus Calgar, must be five hundred."

Dax stared at the man for several moments in disbelief, hardly noticing Quark returning and putting their beverages on the table. The Ferengi nodded and left quickly. Dax came back to herself and poured Andraeus' drink for him out of an ornate crystal bottle. The spirit was a vivid blue colour.

"Quark wasn't kidding when he said he had the good stuff," she mentioned as she struggled with what she was being told. She had agreed to act as Andraeus' handler and ambassador while he was here and she was getting much more than she bargained for. "This is Romulan ale, aged at least fifty years by the colour of it."

Andraeus took the slender goblet she had poured the ale into with surprising dexterity and drank the entire measure in a single gulp. He put the goblet down and looked at her. Clearly he was trying to think of some way to compliment the libation.

"It's... not without its charm..." he said somewhat weakly.

Dax fixed him with a look and poured him another dose. Within five minutes the entire decanter was empty and the enormous man showed no signs whatsoever of inebriation. Dax was less than pleased and expressed herself.

"Oh, come on..." she pressed. "I mean, I know you're big and all and I understand you're some kind of human wrecking machine, but Romulan ale is the bane of the entire Alpha Quadrant! And you're telling me you feel _nothing_?"

Andraeus shrugged. "Perhaps your Doctor Bashir failed to mention that I have a small organ implant, a pre-stomach that filters and neutralizes toxins before they enter my system. I cannot begin to tell you what amount of alcohol I would need to ingest in order to overload the Preomnor Gland."

Dax sighed and sat back in her chair sullenly, sipping at her springwine. "Well, that will doubtless be the best brick of latinum I've ever spent..." she grumbled.

There was a crash off to one side, drawing their attention. Dax saw five Klingons standing around one of the Dabo tables, glaring at the Ferengi dealer, who was quailing in fright. They glared at him hatefully and one of them, clearly the ringleader, shook his fist in the smaller alien's face.

"You little sneak, Ferengi!" he bellowed. "You think you can cheat me and get away with it? I should skin you alive and turn your face into a wallet for my wife, just so she can put it in her back pocket and sit on it!"

"I swear to you, I wasn't cheating!" the Ferengi protested, shaking in terror.

"Ferengi always cheat!" roared the Klingon. He back-handed the dealer, sending him sprawling. The other Klingons laughed while patrons at nearby tables scrambled away.

"Let me guess... Klingons." Andraeus said dryly.

"They're not all this obnoxious, I swear to you." Dax said hastily. "Some of them are... well... not so obnoxious."

"And yet your Captain Sisko arranged an alliance with them." Andraeus observed. "It makes me wonder what the Dominion he speaks of is like if these 'allies' of humanity are preferable."

Dax heard station security approaching the bar and realized that the Klingons were drunk enough to cause a serious fight. Without General Martok around, things might get out of control.

"Andraeus, I have a favour to ask you," she said quickly. "Could you possibly subdue those men before security arrives?"

The Space Marine frowned. "Why would I care if the aliens kill one another?"

"Please, Andraeus," she pleaded, taking his massive hand and looking into his eyes. "I know you do not trust aliens, but these times are not yours and allowing things to go to hell now changes nothing in the future. I cannot guarantee humans will not be hurt unless you act."

Andraeus sighed and rolled his eyes. "Very well, lieutenant. This one time, I will save the little alien from your allies."

She beamed a grateful smile. "Thank you. I will find a way to make it up to you later."

Andraeus tacitly ignored her advances and stood up. He strode over to the scene of the altercation, cricking his neck and rotating his shoulders to warm up, all the while watching the way the Klingons moved.

They were a strong species, built for combat. They seemed barbaric, but he could sense discipline in their forms, the kind brought about by years of stringent training in martial arts and would allow them to be superlative fighters...

If they were not drunk.

He strode up behind the leader and put a hand on his shoulder. The alien whirled around and glared up at him, not seeming to be intimidated by his size.

"What do you want, human?" he spat scornfully.

"You are not welcome any longer on this station, shell-head," Andraeus said sternly. "Depart now to your vessel swiftly and without incident, or your life is forfeit."

The Klingon roared angrily and swung at him. Andraeus held up his arm and blocked the punch easily, stopping it dead. He countered with a palm thrust to the alien's chest that sent him hurtling backwards across the bar and crashing into a corner, where he lay crumpled in a heap.

Another one of the Klingons pulled out a wicked-looking knife and slashed and him, but Andraeus caught the blade and twisted the wrist violently, snapping the bones and then pivoting into a kneeling pose he threw his foe in another direction. Without pausing he surged up and slammed both fists backwards into two more opponents, knocking them both unconscious.

"Andraeus, watch out!" Dax cried in alarm.

Andraeus turned around and the remaining Klingon rammed a knife into his stomach. The alien grinned wolfishly but then goggled in astonishment as the human did not react. Andraeus scowled down at the knife hilt and then at the Klingon before he punched him in the face. Hard.

The Klingon was dead before he hit the ground, his skull shattered.

Dax had come rushing up to him by the time security arrived on the scene, all of them the Bajoran aliens who seems so prevalent on the station. She grimaced as she watched Andraeus pull the knife out of his abdomen and examine it. He held the blade to his nose, sniffing it and then gave it to her to hold onto.

"That was somewhat annoying," he muttered. "You said this sort of thing occurs frequently?" Dax wasn't paying attention but examining his wound, making sure he wasn't haemorrhaging to death, as the ragged blades of Klingon knives were so likely to cause in their victims.

"Doesn't that hurt?" she asked in bewilderment.

"Well, yes, it hurts, I guess," he admitted. "But it will heal quickly enough and there is an implant that blocks my pain receptors when-"

"Oh, enough with all of your fancy implants already!" Dax hissed, still examining him.

"Everybody stay in your place and allow my teams to secure the area!" declared a gravelly voice, indicating that Constable Odo had arrived on the scene. He moved swiftly and with purpose, making sure that everything and everyone was accounted for. He had the unconscious Klingons hauled off to holding cells and then examined the dead one before turning to look up at Andraeus.

"I don't know if random deaths are common in your time, Mister Andraeus, but I assure you, I do my best to keep such occurrences to a minimum on my station."

"Odo, the Klingon stabbed him." Dax interjected. "He was protecting the Ferengi dealer from-"

"I have no doubt his motives were honourable, lieutenant," Odo said flatly, cutting her off. "But a death aboard the station always warrants investigation, you know that. The rules must be followed."

"Your Chief of Security is correct, lieutenant." Andraeus said simply.

"Well at least let me take him to Julian before you- did you just call me lieutenant?" Dax demanded, turning to glare up at the Space Marine. "After I bought you an entire bottle of Romulan ale, you think you can play a formality card with me?"

Odo looked at Dax. "Romulan Ale is illegal, lieutenant, where did you-"

"Odo, take this insufferable man to your brig!" she hissed before turning on her heel and marching out. "I've had quite enough of his nonsense!"

They both watched Dax leave and then looked at one another in no small amount of confusion. Odo finally caught sight of the wound in Andraeus' stomach and seemed rather impressed.

"Perhaps Doctor Bashir should see you first."

"And then the brig?" Andraeus asked.

"It might be the only way I can save you from Lieutenant Dax." Odo replied.

And for the first time since the temporal distortion had brought him here, Andraeus laughed.

* * *

"How is our guest doing now?" Sisko asked Doctor Bashir while the stood outside the infirmary. Inside, Julian's assistants were attending to Andraeus, although there seemed to be little that they would need to do aside from wait and monitor.

Julian sighed. "Predictably by now, he is doing fine," he said. "Those absurd little cells he calls 'Larraman's cells' are doing a bang-up job of healing him at a rate of recovery even a Jem-Hadar could not match. Some manner of scar tissue sealed over the wound virtually before my eyes and he seems to be knitting back together nicely. He is not at all concerned about a wound anyone else would have considered fatal without instant medical attention."

"Just another piece in the mystery," Sisko mused. "But doctor, surely you can't tell me that you're not enjoying the challenge. If he is telling the truth, then we are taking part in an unheard of event."

Julian considered and nodded. "We have heard of visitors from the future before, maybe as far out as a century or two... but forty thousand years..."

"Just be thankful you don't have the temporal division of Starfleet breathing down your neck," Sisko mentioned. "I have done everything I can to deflect and delay them, but sooner or later, they're going to want a look at him."

"You're right, I don't envy you that," the doctor admitted. "But captain, there is something else I think I should tell you about Mister Andraeus."

"Oh? A surprise not related to his implants or combat ability?"

Doctor Bashir led the captain over to a monitor and brought up an active display. Whatever it was he was showing Sisko, he seemed genuinely concerned.

"These are his brainwave patterns, sir," he began. "As you can see, they are clearly human, but these brainwaves here..."

Sisko frowned mildly as he looked at the readings indicated. "I am no doctor, but I have never seen anything like that before. What are those?"

"You never see them in humans, captain," Julian stated. "Or if you do, it's strictly an engineered process. Such brainwaves are common in species such as Betazoids."

"Are you saying that Mister Andraeus is telepathic?" Sisko breathed,

"Not just telepathic, captain, his theta-waves are off the charts..." Julian warned. "Frankly, I have no idea what to do except ask him about it."

"You might want to let me broach that subject with him, doctor," Sisko suggested. "For someone who apparently answers only to a sovereign emperor of the whole galaxy, he seems to respond instinctively to authority. I have been meaning to have a frank discussion with him in any event."

Julian nodded and sighed. "Very well, but at least allow me to observe him until his wound is completely healed, at this rate it shouldn't take more than another twelve hours."

Sisko smiled and put a hand on Bashir's shoulder. "Have it your way. Then please escort him to my ready room. Mister Andraeus will be skipping his stay in the brig."

"Odo will no doubt be glad to hear that," Julian said. "He has been worrying about the ability of a holding cell to even contain the prisoner and he has been pestering Chief O'Brien constantly to help him improve the strength of the security fields."

"You know where to find me." Sisko replied, walking away, nodding to Andraeus as he exited the medbay.

There is much the two of them had to discuss and learn from one another.

* * *

Captain Sisko sat behind his desk in his ready room, having just given security permission to bring Mister Andraeus to the bridge and then to him. He sat with his fingers steepled, waiting calmly, going over the questions he had and what he perceived to be the likely responses from this most unusual guest.

The door finally slid open and two Bajoran security officers escorted Mister Andraeus into the room. The huge man had to duck his head to make it through the aperture, but he seemed to have become used to this inevitability already.

Sisko dismissed the two men and then gestured for Andraeus to sit in the specially designed chair he had recently commissioned Chief O'Brien to construct. It was almost comically large and sat on the floor, not even bolted down.

"I apologize about the somewhat ramshackle condition of the chair," Sisko began. "I'm not used to entertaining visitors of your dimensions."

"The thought is appreciated, captain, usually I just stand. But since the ceiling of this room is somewhat low by my standards, I will use the chair." Andraeus replied, easing himself into the proffered seat.

Sisko examined the Space Marine for a moment and finally spoke. "I will freely admit that I hardly know where to begin. I have endless questions I want to ask, probably the vast majority of which I have no business knowing the answers to."

Andraeus nodded. "I will admit that I am tempted to ask questions as well, since this is a period of history long-forgotten in my own time. Some twenty thousand years from now, a terrible period called the Dark Age of Technology will descend upon humanity and much scientific and mechanical knowledge will be lost, never to be rediscovered, even in my own time."

"Yet you spend little or no time asking any questions." Sisko pointed out. "I assume this is because you have no need to?"

Andraeus considered what Sisko was inferring and finally nodded. "So your doctor noticed that I am psyker. It is as you say, I can read people's minds, to a degree at least. Humans, of course, some of your alien associates, but not all."

"The Ferengi, for instance." Sisko posited.

"Yes, the little ones with the funny heads and the love of money." Andraeus confirmed. "I do not trust them, Captain Sisko."

"Nobody does," replied the captain. "But for the most part they are harmless, especially when compared with races like the Klingons, Romulans, Cardassians, Breen or the Dominion."

"Your tolerance for them at all baffles me," Andraeus said. "The Imperium is beset by foes and for over ten thousand years we have fought to protect humanity from being obliterated by beings so terrible that I am loathe to speak of them."

"A sorry prejudice," Sisko said sadly. "Though the galaxy of our era is a dangerous place, we have learned to live in friendship and harmony with many races, some of whom have joined us in the Federation. Are there no such instances in your time?"

"Captain, none of the races you speak of have survived into my time, as I intimated to Lieutenant Dax earlier," Andraeus stated. "These Klingons, Breen, Ferengi and Trill... they are not only missing in my galaxy, we do not even know any lore of them."

Sisko considered what the man from the future was saying. Could all the races he knew of and had learned about truly be gone?

"Humanity... destroyed them?" he asked warily.

"I do not know," Andraeus admitted. "That is entirely possible, I suppose, though there are no records. Like I said, so much was lost over the millennia."

"What of this emperor you speak of?" Sisko asked, wanting some context for what he was hearing. "Is he a hereditary warlord?"

"No, captain, nothing could be further from the truth." Andraeus said flatly, shaking his head.

"Then what is he, if I might ask?"

Andraeus drew a deep breath, realizing that what he was about to explain would sound completely ridiculous to his audience, even if it sounded perfectly natural to him.

"The emperor, captain, is not only the ruler of an interstellar empire but he is also the god of our race," he began. "The Imperium of Man has survived for over ten millennia and the Emperor has ruled from Terra for that entire time."

Sisko's face betrayed nothing as he listened but inwardly he was stunned. What on earth was Andraeus talking about?

"The Emperor is as old as mankind itself and the most powerful psyker to ever live," Andraeus continued. "His mental powers were so prodigious that he was effectively immortal and for ages untold he has been trying to guide humanity through its development until we enter the next stage of our existence, that being a fully developed psychic race."

"I see," Sisko said. "Please, go on."

"But ten thousand years ago, just after he had pacified the galaxy and united all of mankind's far-flung stellar colonies, a terrible civil war erupted. Nearly half of his army, led by his greatest general, Horus, who was like a son to the Emperor, turned against him and the galaxy burned. Countless billions died in the bloodshed."

"But if the Emperor was the most powerful man to ever live, then how-"

"Horus was a Primarch, captain, a member of a select group of men genetically engineered from the blood of the Emperor himself. They were twenty and their powers were beyond reckoning. From each of the Primarchs came the legacy of the Space Marines, men such as myself... Ultramrines, Blood Angels, Space Wolves, Salamanders, Black Templars and Iron Fists, to name but a few."

Sisko listened, rapt by the account.

"Horus had been corrupted by terrible entities too powerful for even him to overcome and he in turn corrupted half the Primarchs and their Space Marine legions."

"Civil war between the mightiest beings and warriors humanity had ever known." Sisko said quietly. "Please continue."

"The civil war raged throughout the galaxy and even reached the Imperial Palace on Holy Terra," Andraeus related. "In the final battle, when all seemed lost, the Emperor realized that his son Horus was truly beyond saving and he destroyed him utterly, but at the cost of his own life. He has sat immobilized now in a vast throne of lost technology and this singular machine has kept him alive on some level for ten thousand years now. His body is a desiccated husk, with few living cells, yet his mind and will remain our beacon of light in a galaxy of darkness."

Sisko was silent for some time as he pondered what he was being told. Finally he spoke. "You understand, of course, how it is hard to not be sceptical of your account, Mister Andraeus."

"I understand completely, captain," Andraeus reasoned. "May I point out, though, that a thousand years before your own time, people would have considered your circumstances mythical or impossible, yes?"

"Granted," Sisko said readily. "But I can account for my own time and I can account for the past. I as yet have no proof of your era outside of the ephemeral evidence of your remarkable physiology."

Andraeus sighed. "And for the most part I do not blame you, captain. To be honest, I have struggled with reticence about sharing any information with you at all, given how fantastic it would seem, but I figured I owed you the chance."

Andraeus now stood and looked down at Captain Sisko, his eyes glowing slightly.

"If I cannot effectively tell you about my Imperium, captain, then at least allow me to let you look inside my mind so I can show you..."

Sisko nodded and closed his eyes, searching out Andraeus' mind and the secrets within...

* * *

The bridge was operating normally when the door to the ready room opened and Mister Andraeus walked out. Major Kira, Chief O'Brien and Lieutenant Dax all watched as he was met by two security officers and escorted to the turbolift, disappearing from sight.

Captain Sisko emerged from his office some time shortly after and he seemed pensive. He walked around the bridge almost absently, looking at the deck, occasionally mumbling to himself. Finally, Dax and Kira could take no more of it and stopped him.

"So? What happened? What did he say?" Dax asked.

Sisko considered his response. "To be honest, a lot of things I was not prepared to hear."

"So you believe his is from the future?" Kira pressed, clearly expressing scepticism.

"I will tell you what is more important than that," Sisko said in a stern tone. "What really matters is how we get him back to where he came from..."

* * *

**Author's Notes: **So someone challenged me to try and do a crossover between DS9 and 40k and it sounded like fun. Rather than shoot the _Defiant_ roughly four hundred centuries into the future, I decided to bring a Space Marine back to DS9. Originally Andraeus was not a Librarian or psychic, but I was finding Imperial prejudices against aliens a little problematic- ergo, I am allowing our oversized protagonist's ability to read minds to mitigate his actions somewhat, given the unusual environment he now finds himself in.

Even though I don't really like the chapter much, I went with the Ultramarines simply because I figured they might prove the most reasonable and adaptable to such circumstances. Let's face it, a Dark Angel, Black Templar or a Space Wolf would be a disaster and while a Blood Angel might have been fun, I am already working on a fic for them, so it was the Ultrasmurfs who wound up here. No, using some second-rate chapter like the Crimson Fists or Howling Griffons never occurred to me.

For the 40k nerks out there, I am already aware that many of the psychic abilities that Andraeus displays are not canon from the rulebooks or even other extant fiction. You will just have to suck it up and do what the Trekkie/Trekker nerks do and use some suspension of disbelief this time around.

I am trying very hard to get the dialogue and speech styles/interactions of the DS9 characters right, make them sound and talk like they do in the show. I have hopefully done not too bad a job of it, but it's up to you to let me know, okay?

As always, reviews are welcome and flames will be laughed at.

Keep your stick on the ice!

-Management


	2. Chapter 2

**Star Trek: Deep Space 9**

**The Distant And Not-So-Bright Future – Part 2**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own nor did I invent Star Trek: Deep Space 9 or any of its concepts, nor do I own or did I invent Warhammer 40k or its concepts. Extant characters are used for recreational reading only and no profit. Any characters I have created are purely for interaction purposes with the universes borrowed and portrayed. Please enjoy this bit of challengefic fluff. Reviews are welcome, flames will be laughed at. Glory to the Emperor of Mankind!

* * *

**Phase II- Uncomfortable Truths**

"You seem unconcerned by your current quarters." Dax commented lightly as she stood outside the holding cell. Within the enclosed space, Andraeus sat on the reinforced bed that provided the only furnishing.

"I have stayed in worse," he replied honestly. "And to be frank, a Space Marine's accommodations are usually rather spare. We have no need of fripperies and such."

"Sounds like a pretty frugal life and not much fun," she mused. "If you're the foremost warriors of the emperor of the galaxy, aren't there any perks to go along with it?"

"You are comparing us to the chivalric knights of ancient Terra," he answered. "No, our lives are of necessity one of constant battle and martial discipline. You do not become one of the Adeptus Astartes for fortune or favour, you become one to ensure that you see that humanity survives for another day in a universe that wants us dead. The emperor's approval is all the reward we need."

"But Benjamin said that according to you, this emperor has been dead or next to dead for nearly ten thousand years." Dax pointed out.

"And through all that time we have remained true to his vision and his intent for humanity," Andraeus said proudly. "Humanity survives because we will not surrender or yield. What other reward could possibly be necessary? Every Astartes is a legendary hero and trillions of people live in awe of our sacrifice."

"Is still seems a sad life." Jadzia suggested.

"Mayhap, but nonetheless necessary. The enemies of humanity care not for our weariness and desire for an end to the constant conflict." Andraeus said in a dark tone. "Would you not do whatever it took to save your species from extinction? Whatever measures were necessary?"

"I understand what you are saying, but frankly I doubt I could." Dax said. "I am not sure I would so willingly trade my 'humanity', so to speak, for my continued survival. Becoming something I am not or am repulsed by for my own continued existence is not really appealing."

She realized that her words were somewhat flawed in conveying her intent. Andraeus looked at her, one eyebrow raised. "You are inferring that my becoming a Space Marine is too high a price to pay? Do you consider me a monster and inhuman?"

"No, I... I am sorry, Andraeus, I didn't mean it how it sounded." Dax said apologetically.

"I am aware of this."

"Oh, that's right," she said, smiling slyly. "Julian told me you are telepathic and failed to reveal this to us. Naughty boy."

"It didn't really seem relevant, and I am trained to seek tactical advantage in all situations." Andraeus said simply.

"So can you only ready human minds or are we pesky aliens also open books to you?" she asked whimsically.

"Humans, of course, I read them with ease if I choose." Andraeus admitted. "Those Ferengi aliens, however, I cannot read. I can see and hear the thoughts of Klingons and these Bajorans."

"What about Trill?" she asked in a daring tone.

Andraeus shrugged. "I hardly need telepathy to read your intent, lieutenant."

Dax sighed. "I can see coaxing you into not calling me 'lieutenant' is going to be a rather monumental task."

"You would not be so insistent on my using your given name if you were less focused on courting my intimacy."

Dax blushed for a moment, at a complete loss of words thanks to Andraeus' bluntness. She heard the Bajoran security officer chuckle at the console in another corner of the room and her head snapped around to scowl at him. He cleared his throat and resumed looking at this console.

"Do not worry, he will forget everything we just said." Andraeus commented. "Also, I believe I wish to see more of the station..."

Andraeus stood and look at the security officer. "You may drop the force field now. There will be no need to concern yourself with me."

The Bajoran frowned but dutifully deactivated the force field of his holding cell and watched in mild confusion as Andraeus strode out, accompanied by a somewhat reticent Dax. She looked up at him.

"That wasn't very nice, he was just doing his job, and you know that, right?" she said with reproach.

"And I am just doing mine," Andraeus replied. "I was willing to allow your Constable Odo the dignity of putting me away for a time, but I cannot afford to be sequestered away like this. If it makes you feel any better, your Captain Sisko knows that I fully intended to leave the holding cell at a time of my own choosing and he made sure that the commanding officer of the Klingon I killed has been informed that he had it coming."

"I normally find frankness refreshing, but I am seeing that you take it to a rather unnerving level." Dax observed. "In any event, since I am still responsible for you while you are here, what is it you wish to do?"

"Perhaps you could show me one of these 'holosuites' you spoke of?" he suggested.

"Now, you're talking my language." Dax said breathily. "I'll go get my bathing suit..."

* * *

"This? This is why I pulled out my smallest and most expensive bikini?" Dax declared in exasperation as she stood in the holosuite with the hulking Ultramarine. She was wearing a very small bikini, shades of gold in colouration, the top of which barely contained her ample breasts, did not at all conceal her behind and left almost nothing to the imagination in front either. She was standing in a dead and blasted landscape, with a burning sky and surrounded by barren rocks, all of which was glared upon by a blood-red sun.

"I was indeed wondering why you chose to arrive dressed in such delicate and spare apparel," Andraeus confirmed.

"I freely admit I was expecting something a little less apocalyptic and perhaps a little more relaxing." Jadzia grumbled. "I wonder what on earth I was thinking."

"It's... a very nice outfit." Andraeus said in a conciliatory tone. She sniffed at his offering.

"I will have you know I paid a great deal for this outfit on Raisa."

"And I am sure it- did you say Raisa, lieu- I mean, Jadzia?"

Yes, I did," Dax replied, somewhat surprised by Andraeus' perplexed look. "Raisa is a pleasure or paradise world, if you will. It is one of the most coveted vacation spots in the Alpha Quadrant. Why do you ask? Have you heard of it?"

Andraeus coughed. "I have actually fought there. I am afraid that in my own time it is not a paradise or pleasure world, it is a hell world, where only the strongest or most crazed can survive. I... this environment I picked is actually the Raisa I know of."

Dax looked around her almost in horror. What had happened? She looked at Andraeus in astonishment. "How..."

"I do not know," he said flatly. "It was sad coincidence that I happened to pick Raisa."

Jadzia recovered and sighed heavily, pushing the images around out of her mind. "Computer, please input Dax Raisa Program One."

The landscape around them shifted and disappeared before being replaced by a beautiful beach, skirting an ocean that was an exquisite jewel blue. The sand was fine and white and the clouds overhead were fluffy and perfect. Dax smiled from ear to ear in delight.

"Now, Andraeus, I need to ask you something," she said in a mock serious tone. "Are you Ultramarines conditioned to not be able to... you know..."

"Copulate." Andraeus finished bluntly.

"Not the word I would have chosen, but yes." Dax agreed. "Have you been so heavily conditioned and altered by the emperor to become his chosen that you have no urges any more?"

Andraeus shook his head. "No, we are fully functioning from a sexual point of view," he said simply. "I know of some chapters that eschew such things, but certainly we of the Ultramarines are capable of such physical expressions as you seek, and I know the Salamanders and Space Wolves are as well."

"Well, now that we've established that," Dax purred, slowly undoing the knot at the back of her bikini top and letting the tiny item fall away. "What do you have to say about _this_?"

Andraeus stared for several seconds before speaking. "It... makes me wish you were a human."

Jadzia closed her eyes and summoned the strength from deep inside herself to not shoot the man. She took a breath and looked up at him.

"Well since you can see inside my mind and already know that I mean you and humanity no harm, how about you just _pretend_ I am a human girl for a while..."

And with that she took him by the hand and led him off to a more secluded area of the beach. Just in case anyone happened to stroll in...

* * *

Major Kira was standing at one of the operations consoles on the bridge when Dax came up on the turbolift and assumed her duty station, saying nothing. After several minutes of nothing, Kira could not take it anymore and sidled up next to the Trill science officer.

"So?" she began.

"So what?" Dax replied non-chalantly.

"So... how did your little date go with Mister Andraeus last night?" Nerys said, almost giggling. "What else could I possibly be referring to?"

"I am not sure it is anyone else's business," Jadzia commented in a neutral tone. "Besides, it's bad form to talk about those sorts of things."

"That is _such_ a lie," Kira said, rolling her eyes and smiling. "Really, Jadzia, was it all that bad? I remember you were worried he might not have a clue how to-"

"That wasn't the problem." Dax said flatly, cutting her off.

"Then what?" Nerys pressed. "Would he not because you're an alien?"

"It was an initial problem, but apparently I look human enough that he was able to overcome that particular prejudice." Dax admitted.

"Then what?" the Bajoran asked again, unwilling to allow Dax to not give her all the details. "Come on, we tell each other everything. Don't hold out on me now!"

Dax sighed and turned away from her station, leaning back against it and folding her arms.. "He's a superhuman, enhanced killing machine. You might say he's 'enhanced' all over."

Kira's eyes widened. "You mean he's... it's..."

"There were some logistical obstacles my delicate frame could simply not overcome. I'm not a shapeshifting Founder..."

Dax waited patiently while Kira giggled so hard that tears were running down her face. She finally composed herself before looking at her compatriot and then having to turn away to laugh again.

"Your understanding and sistership is greatly appreciated, Nerys." Dax grumbled.

Kira finally got control of herself and sighed. "So where is our guest?"

"Last I checked, he was in one of the hollow suites, practicing with one of the hand-to-hand combat programs," the Trill said sullenly. "I went to check on him but left the holosuite very quickly."

"Why?" Kira asked.

"It was too violent in there, even for Curzon," Jadzia murmured. "He was practicing on difficulty levels I didn't even know existed."

She turned to look at Kira and she was concerned. "It frightened me, Nerys. What kind of galaxy does he come from where our existence isn't even recorded and our enemies seem trivial to him in comparison? Klingons don't faze him one bit. He has spoken of enemies called Orks, Eldar, Tau, Necrons and Chaos in his own time."

"So he thinks we're small potatoes," Kira said. "A part of me hopes he's right, because I am not sure that I could manage to live or even survive in his galaxy."

Chief O'Brien now approached them and sighed. "Whatever is going on with the phase inverters that power the shields, it's certainly taking its sweet time running through the diagnostic. I am being quoted another seven hours before the initial scan finishes, forget the deep-system scan."

"Do you have any idea or theories whatsoever?" Kira asked, knowing that the shields were operating erratically as long as this error occurred. "Is it some Cardassian protocol or program flaw?"

"I don't think so," O'Brien mused. "It's just, well... slow. The system is just running very inefficiently and for no reason I can fathom."

"And my scans aren't revealing anything either," Dax added. "I know Benjamin is getting a little tired of telling Starfleet that we're working on it."

"It's been less than seventy-two hours that we've been encountering this error, but what's bothering me is that we've never had one like it before," O'Brien added. "The first I saw of it was when Dax submitted that report about the efficiency drop in the relay terminus yesterday about fifteen hundred."

Dax frowned. "Chief, I didn't submit any report like that. I got one from Ensign Geist an hour before you're saying I sent one."

"Wait a minute," Kira said, trying to straighten the matter out. "So Jadzia didn't send a report that the Chief received concerning the recent upgrades to the shield generators? And Ensign Geist has been on shore leave for the past three days, he travelled home to Marcos."

The three of them considered what they had just put together and there was a dreadful moment of silence. Someone was tampering with records and now the shields were barely operational...

Sabotage.

* * *

Andraeus was standing at one of the public terminals, reviewing the Federation's and Earth's history with fascination. So much knowledge had been lost during the Dark Age of Technology, assumed gone forever, but here he was with free access to it.

He had been stunned by the images of sacred Terra, a rich and green world vibrant with life, not the hollow shell he knew, grown over with a single endless city harbouring untold billions of souls. It was like a fanciful story to him, completely unrealistic. He understood a little bit better now how the people about him might be justifiably sceptical of his own account of the galaxy.

Somewhere... somewhere in this Federation... _He_ was here, living amongst them and they don't even know it. Could they possibly understand how blessed they were? What would happen if He somehow, against all odds, encountered Andraeus? Would He recognize the Ultramarine as some infinitesimal scion of His own immortal being?

Could that single chance meeting, one in a trillion, be the event that started it all?

He shook such egotistical and whimsical notions free of his mind as the door to the room he was in opened. In swept Captain Sisko, accompanied by Major Kira, Lieutenant Dax, Chief O'Brien and a security detail, all armed with the 'phaser' rifles the Federation warriors seemed fond of.

"Put your hands over your head!" Captain Sisko ordered. "I do not want to fire on you, but I will if you do not cooperate!"

Andraeus rose slowly, keeping his hands where they could see them. What had gotten into them?

"You almost had us, Andraeus," Major Kira said sternly. "To think we nearly believed your story about coming from the future."

"Dare I ask, what has convinced you that I am not?" he queried.

"Your little ruse with the phase inverters and sabotaging our shield generator." Dax said harshly. "Very sloppy, we figured it out. I'd expect better from a Founder."

Andraeus kept his arms raised but stalled for time while he probed their mind to finds out what had caused this turnabout and what in the name of Sanguinius a 'founder' was.

He saw it. They were accusing him of being one of the beings who controlled the Dominion, their great enemy. Apparently these beings were shape-shifters and had infiltrated the Federation before, committing acts of sabotage and rendering them understandably paranoid.

Perhaps his arrival was distressingly coincidental, especially since they found him on a world they suspected of Dominion activity.

Justifiable paranoia or not, this had to end. He now knew what was happening.

"Don't try anything," Kira warned. "These guards aren't your biggest threat. This room is now surrounded by an inverted quantum stasis field. If we activate it you'll be rendered unconscious and lose your solid form so quickly that your morphogenic enzyme will be knocked right out of you!"

"Is that so?" Andraeus challenged. "I suggest you try it then, alien."

Kira flushed angrily and tapped the communicator on her breast. "Computer, activate quantum field!"

The room hummed but Andraeus neither went unconscious nor melted. His would-be captors seemed confused for several moments, clearly expecting some result. He glared at Dax and his eyes glowed dangerously.

"_Take your bracelet off and throw it away!"_

Almost woodenly and with fear in her eyes, Dax removed the ornate bracelet she was wearing on her wrist beneath her uniform and even as she tossed it away her eyes rolled into her head and she collapsed into what looked like a heap of bronze pudding.

Everyone nearby backed up in amazement and alarm at the unexpected transformation. Sisko recovered quickly and began giving orders.

"O'Brien, find the real Dax now! Major Kira, take the Founder to a holding cell and keep her in that liquid form! Get Odo! Have Doctor Bashir do a quantum sweep of the entire station, deck by deck, with security teams on high alert!"

The all rushed out of the room, leaving the Captain alone with the hulking Space Marine. Sisko seemed to not know quite what to say.

"It is alright, captain," Andraeus said without worry. "It was an understandable mistake, given the timing of my arrival and all. Thankfully I could read in your minds what you thought was happening and I noticed that Dax was closed to me, or at least trying to be."

"Apparently not even the Founders are a match for the telepaths of the future," Sisko said dryly. "And while I appreciate your utility in this incident, please try to refrain from probing people readily, it will make life difficult if they suspect you are inside their heads."

"I promise you that much," Andraeus snorted. "There are too many alien minds aboard this station of yours, I find their touch distressing."

Sisko rubbed his temples for a moment to clear his thoughts but then his comm badge bipped at him. He pressed it and spoke wearily. "Sisko, go ahead."

"Captain, the shield generator is not functioning!" rasped Odo's voice. "We just lost it completely! Phaser banks and torpedo launchers are down as well!"

"Red alert!" Sisko said loudly. "Battle stations! Get that shield operating somehow! If the shields are down, that means that the Dominion is coming and they're probably on top of us already!"

The lights around the entire station began to pulse red and a tinny, droning siren began to echo. Andraeus made a wry face at the unpleasant noise. He put a hand on Sisko's shoulder before the officer turned to leave.

"Captain, I know I am not a member of your crew, but if the Dominion is coming, I think it might be best if you let me retrieve my armour and weapons. I know my way around a fight with aliens."

Sisko paused for half a second and then nodded. He pressed on his comm badge and spoke. "Odo, you are to make sure that Mister Andraeus is given his weapons and his armour. I am thinking that he might come in handy for us in just a bit."

"Acknowledged, captain!" came the curt response.

Andraeus followed Sisko, his giant strides allowing him to keep pace easier with the smaller human.

It was time to see what humanity's enemies in this era were made of.

* * *

Andraeus stood now on the bridge, towering over all assembled, his already considerable bulk made even more imposing by his power armour. In his hand he carried his massive bolter rifle and on his belt he wore a bolt pistol and a wicked-looking sword. Everyone except the recently rescued Dax gave him a wide berth.

Sisko paced back and forth as he announced the plan of action to the crew. "The Dominion will be coming and they'll want to destroy the station because our shields are down," he began. "What will prevent them from firing on us is the fact that we captured their Founder infiltrator and they cannot take the risk of harming one of their gods. If we cannot convince them to back off, then they will no doubt begin beaming aboard the Jem'Hadar to try and take the Founder back, and that means lots of fighting and hand-to-hand combat."

Andraeus noticed the grimace on everyone's face, intimating that the Jem'Hadar were proficient in melee. Good, he would welcome the challenge.

"In addition to the Federation and Bajoran security teams, we have thirty Klingons who have volunteered to fight. We will get General Martok's approval later. The teams are to be spread throughout the station and guarding the civilian areas. We are shuttling and beaming as many civilians to Bajor as possible, but at this rate there will probably be as many as two thousand left aboard if the Dominion arrives soon."

Sisko paused and looked up at Andraeus. "Mister Andraeus, you asked to fight and you seem ready. What do you need? Do you wish to be assigned to a team?"

"To be honest, captain, I doubt any of your teams could keep up," he said honestly. "If you wish to assign one to me, that is your business, my only request being that they are humans. If I encounter these Jem'Hadar, my intention is to either kill them all or push them off the station. I have no intention of fighting defensively."

Sisko looked at Odo, who considered for a moment. "Mister Parmenio can work with Federation Team Delta-One guarding Section Six of the promenade."

Andraeus scowled. "Near the Ferengi's bar?"

"It may be near the Ferengi bar, Space Marine, but it is also close to the hab rings," Odo said derisively. "You will have ample opportunity to express your keen interest in preserving your species from that point."

"Enough!" Sisko barked. "Everyone to your assignments! Go!"

The teams dispersed. Before Andraeus left, Dax put a hand on his gauntlet. He turned to gaze down at her.

"How did you know it wasn't me in the room when they came to get you?" she asked.

Andraeus shrugged. "I could sense the being who looked like you trying to block me from their mind or give me false readings."

"Oh..." Jadzia murmured.

"But even if I hadn't been able to reach their mind, I would have known anyway." Andraeus offered. "To be honest, their mimicked heartbeat didn't match yours and... well... they got your breast size wrong."

Dax blushed furiously. "I thought you didn't notice that sort of thing."

"Hard not to in your case." Andraeus replied. "I will see you after the battle."

He exited the bridge in the turbolift, noticing that her eyes were still on him.

* * *

"Captain, there is a Jem'Hadar battle cruiser that has just appeared on our scanners, they are within firing range... they're hailing us!" called an ensign.

"Open a channel." Sisko replied, sitting in the captain's chair, his fingers steepled.

The vidscreen blinked and the image of a Vorta appeared, surrounded by Jem'Hadar warriors. The alien smiled.

"Captain Sisko..." he began in his mellow tone.

"Weyoun." Sisko replied. "To what do I owe the pleasure of this unexpected visit?"

"As I am sure you have deduced by now, captain, our saboteur has struck and your station's shields and weapons are inoperable." Weyoun said. "Since we both know that Bajoran space is contested ground between our peoples, we felt the need to press the issue and make you see reason."

"Do go on..." Sisko answered levelly.

"And since we do not want to see so many innocents die, I am pleased to tell you that I am authorized to give you a chance to abandon the station to my Jem'Hadar soldiers forthwith and no one will be hurt."

"And if I choose to resist?" Sisko asked.

Weyoun spread his hands in a gesture of helplessness. "Then I am afraid I would have little or no choice but to test out the armaments of this new battle cruiser we have developed. I daresay its firepower is at least equal to that of the Klingon flagship, the _Negh'var._"

"And I would hate to cost you such a golden chance to play with your new toy, Weyoun, but there is just one small hitch in your plan..." the captain pointed out. "The problem, as I see it, is that your saboteur got sloppy and we captured them, even though they managed to knock our shields out. I somehow doubt that blowing up this space station is an option for you with one of the Founders aboard."

Weyoun's face was grim as he listened to Sisko. He had no reason to doubt the captain's statement, since he was plainly not surprised to see the Jem'Hadar warship.

"Oh dear..." the Vorta intoned. "That does complicate matters for both of us, captain. In taking a hostage, you have turned what was supposed to be a simple fight into a rescue operation. I cannot allow you to hold one of the Founders against their will. I have over seventeen hundred Jem'Hadar shock troops ready to board the station to save our god. I am sorry, captain, but there is no longer room for mercy. Everyone aboard your station will now die. I salute you, captain."

"I'll be waiting, Weyoun." Sisko said sternly.

The Vorta made a gesture with his head and the screen went black. Sisko stood ad called out to the security detail on the bridge. "Make sure those subspace scramblers are active, we can't let them take control of the bridge. All hands, prepare to repel boarders!"

And then all hell broke loose.

* * *

The entire deck shook as the Jem'Hadar polaron weapons raked across the upper pylons, making it feel like the universe itself were coming apart at the seams. Dax steadied herself against a wall while she stood outside the infirmary, accompanied by a security team of Bajorans. She looked around, waiting for signs of the inevitable foe.

"I notice a lot of the human Federation security teams volunteered to accompany Mister Andraeus," one of the guards muttered. "Very clannish, these humans."

"I imagine it has more to do with being smart rather than clannish or speciesist..." Dax replied, waiting, making sure her phaser pistol was set to maximum power. "I imagine that wherever he happens to be is the safest place on this station right now."

The Bajoran snorted. "Come on, he can't be that lethal."

Dax pursed her lips, hearing the first sounds of weapons fire not far away. The Jem'Hadar were aboard the station. "He took out five Klingons in about as many seconds without breaking a sweat. I almost feel bad for the Jem'Hadar. Trust me, it won't be pretty."

The first enemy unshrouded nearly directly in front of her and she shot quickly, dropping him before he could strike. Four more burly warriors were upon them and she lashed out with the _Mek'leth_ she now carried- she had, in times past, preferred the reach allowed by the larger _Bat'leth¸_the Klingon weapon favoured by her former host Curzon, but she had to admit that the her smaller, more lithe frame complimented the close-fighting dagger more, not to mention that the Jem'Hadar were fast enough to get within the myopic zone of the _Bat'leth_ unless it was wielded by a true master.

She ducked the rifle butt of a foe and then swiped her blade across his collar, severing the tube that fed the enzyme Ketracel-White into the Jem'Hadar warrior's carotid artery. He reeled backwards in shock while she aimed her phaser and shot another who was about to slay one of her comrades.

"How can they be firing?!" called one of the security officers frantically as the deck shook again, the station reeling from another salvo fired by the battle cruiser. "Are they not afraid of hurting the Founder?"

"They're targeting non-vital areas we will not keep him in!" Dax yelled back as she wrestled with another ceratopsian enemy. "They're keeping us busy while they scan the station and pinpoint his locale!"

She hoped the ECM and jamming systems were up to the task of shielding them from annihilation.

* * *

"Keep watch!" Sisko shouted as he pummelled the final Jem'Hadar aboard the bridge to the deck, making sure he lay still. He looked around, panting heavily as he surveyed the shape of his command- they had set up several local phased scramblers that would make it difficult for the Dominion forces to transport directly to the bridge, but even the few that had made it through were proving difficult to manage and contain. Nearly twenty of the Jem'Hadar lay dead within the confines of the bridge, but how many dozens or hundreds more waited?

Five more forms began to materialize, but only two solidified. One of the Jem'Hadar shot a security ensign before he was killed and the other died as he aimed at Sisko. The captain stood tall, letting his men know he was fine and they were still in control.

"Grab weapons if you need them and make sure you're ready," he announced loudly. "This little donnybrook is far from over!" He touched his comm badge. "Major, how is everything on Level Seventeen?"

"We've seen better days, captain!" Kira called back as she ducked back behind a bulkhead, barely avoiding the lethal pulse of a polaron rifle. She snapped off a shot around the corner, elated to see her target drop as she hit him in the thigh. "We're holding, but only barely!"

"Keep those civilians safe, major, that is your primary objective!" Sisko ordered.

"Good to know it's that simple, captain," Kira retorted, snapping off a shot with her phaser pistol. "I was worried you were going to say that defeating the Jem'Hadar was my primary concern!"

Sisko grunted and checked on other security points, making sure that he knew what was happened in his beleaguered station. Deck Nineteen was overrun, as was C Section of the Docking Ring.

The problem was that a fighting withdrawal was what made the most tactical sense, but he could not protect the civilians still aboard if his troops pulled back and he harboured no doubt that the Jem'Hadar would massacre every man, woman and child if they were left undefended.

What good was the advantage of defence if he could not utilize it effectively?

He needed another, unlooked for advantage.

* * *

The security officer frowned as he waited behind the wall, noticing that the titanic warrior, who had called himself a 'space marine', wore his helmet on his hip, rather than on his head. The massive warrior waited with them, his eyes distant.

"Shouldn't you be wearing that helmet?" the man asked.

"I need my faculties to be unimpeded for what is about to happen," the strange warrior grunted, not looking down at him.

"Seems like a waste to me," replied the security officer. "Be careful, it is said that Jem'Hadar weapons contain some ion that prevents the coagulation of wounds, so even if you are just grazed, you can still bleed to death."

"Duly noted." Andraeus said, intrigued to find out if his enhanced physiology and Larraman's Cells could handle such a wound. They would know soon enough.

"They are coming. Prepare yourselves, if you intend to fight..." he said in a low growl. The officer listened, frowning.

"I don't hear anything."

"Who said anything about hearing them?" Andraeus declared as he spun around the corner, his massive bolt gun ready. He had correctly guessed there was fifteen of them, taking in the sight of the aliens and analyzing quickly- they were roughly the same size as Klingons, with a tough, bluish-grey skin, permeated by scales and horns. Their armour was light and ablative, meant to dampen energy discharges from the weapons favoured in this era.

A grave tactical mistake for them, one they would regret quickly.

His bolter rifle roared to life, the terrible and thunderous chattering noise carrying through the bulkheads and even reaching nearby decks. His Federation allies froze in shock and even the Jem'Hadar seemed stunned into momentary inaction by the sheer cacophony his weapon emitted. The first target's head exploded in a pink cloud as one of the rocket-propelled projectiles punched through his skull. Another collapsed as a large hole appeared through his chest. His shot went wide, raking along the bulkhead wall, but he was stone dead before the misfire even occurred.

Andraeus' diminutive allies rallied and charged around the corner, adding their phaser rifle fire to his barrage. They were stunned to see that their titanic comrade was not holding his position or even firing from cover but actually advancing toward their foes, his horrific weapon chewing devastating holes in the Jem'Hadar, something even those genetically-engineered alien warriors seemed unbalanced by initially.

The Dominion forces recovered after the initial shock and fired back, surging forward, realizing that their armour or any shielding they possessed was not at all proof against the massive foe's archaic-seeming weapon.

A polaron pulse splattered against the huge pauldron that protected Andraeus' shoulder and he noted with some satisfaction that the ceramite held, the energy of the attack dissipating over the armour, melting and scarring perhaps the outer layer, but it would be proof against several more hits at this rate.

The Jem'Hadar, perceiving Andraeus to be the principal threat, concentrated their fire on him, meaning that his comrades were almost free to fire at will, picking their targets and shooting while advancing slowly behind him. His armour took several more hits and he listened to it intuitively, ready to change tactics at just the right moment.

Three more of the vile aliens fell to his boltgun and one of their polaron pulses creased along his cheek. He felt the sear of pain and he snarled as he surged forward, covering the distance between the two forces in almost a single leap. Before even the feared Jem'Hadar were ready he was among them, his sword now in hand. He had flicked the activation button and the anachronistic weapon hummed to life, surrounded by an eerie, inexplicable glow.

His own allies stopped dead and watched in horror, their weapons hanging limp in their hands, their part in the engagement forgotten. What had been a struggle for control of this section of the station was now a gruesome duel between forces they could not understand.

Andraeus whirled about in a bloody battle-frenzy, his blade severing limbs and fraying the meat from his enemy's bones, never stopping its ancient and tried kata. Even the enhanced bodies of the Jem'Hadar were no match for the wrath of the venerable blade, wrought and blessed in the mighty Emperor's name to bring death and destruction to the foes of humanity.

Without thought of remorse or pity, he slammed the sword directly down the middle of a foe's skull, bisecting the Jem'Hadar in a hiss of bone, blood and guts. His huge, armoured boot crashed into the ribcage of another alien, sending him hurtling against the bulkhead and shattering every bone in his body. He slumped like a rag doll and did not move.

"Ensign, what the hell is that noise?!" shouted Captain Sisko's voice over the comm badge.

The ensign leading the security detachment assigned to Andraeus tapped his badge. "It's... it's a good noise, I think, captain..." he stammered. "It is Mister Andraeus' rifle."

"I'll be damned if they can't hear it all the way over on the Jem'Hadar ship!" Sisko yelled, obviously engaged in yet another firefight. "Be careful, our sensors indicated that a hundred of the Jem'Hadar are converging on your position, probably in response to whatever Mister Andraeus is doing! They just transported there moments ago! Hold as best you can, we will try to find a team to reinforce you!"

The hideous noise of battle had ended and the ensign took a moment to turn away and compose himself, sickened by what he saw- Andraeus' armour was covered in gore and his foes lay in bloody ribbons at his feet. The promethean warrior turned to look at them and not one could meet his gaze. His eyes blazed with a terrible ferocity they had not even seen in a Klingon's face.

Could any human, altered or no, ever be capable of such pitiless savagery?

"Stand your ground, pick your targets and stay with me," he said sternly, his eyes gazing down the hallway from whence the enemy would come. "Stand now and prepare to destroy the enemies of humanity. "No fear, no mercy. They come to destroy us and we will give them exactly what they deserve… death."

Somehow, against all the odds, the ensign and his comrades felt heartened by the strange warrior's words. They were eleven against as many as a hundred Jem'Hadar, but each of them did not doubt their inevitable victory. Instinctively they scurried to their position in line with him, ready not only to protect themselves, but also in a pattern that would allow them to advance, to drive the enemy back and slay them for daring to board their station.

* * *

Dax and her security team raced along the corridors, ordered to reinforce Andraeus and his men, who were about to be hit, hard, by the Jem'Hadar. The infirmary had been secured and no further attacks seemed forthcoming, so she and her men were ordered elsewhere, leaving two teams under Doctor Bashir to guards his charges.

Something ominous was about to happen but she could not tell what. Her race was not telepathic, psychic or prescient in any meaningful way, so this implied that these feelings were so strong as to be imposed up on her, and probably everyone else aboard the station.

Andraeus...

Some time earlier, she had heard dull, echoing thuds through the promenade, thinking that maybe a series of charges had gone off, or far off fire against the pylons from the Jem'Hadar warship, but then it was revealed to be the space marine's weapon firing, possibly the loudest noise ever heard aboard Deep Space Nine, barring any explosions one might have been standing next to. It unnerved her considerably, as she had been quite a distance away.

Could even Andraeus Parmenio hold against the assault of an entire company of the Dominion's elite storm troopers? Surely he was a masterful warrior, but quantity had a quality all of its own and his position could be easily overrun.

She ran faster, knowing that every second counted in battles like this. The Jem'Hadar would take the station apart to find the captive Founder, section by section, piece by piece...

Body by body.

Ahead of her came the distinctive cacophony of battle, along with the dreadful, chattering roar of Andraeus' boltgun.

She only hoped she and her men were in time.

* * *

"So many of them..." whispered one man as they saw the Jem'Hadar storm down the corridor, charging to optimal firing range.

"Their numbers matter not," Andraeus said flatly. "I have fought more dire foes at worse odds and yet I live. Strength is in one's self, weakness and vulnerability in the enemy. You must simply reach out and seize it for yourself."

"What weakness do you see in them?" asked another trooper.

"They care nothing for their own survival, they seek only victory. They fight because they are bred to believe something, there is no choice on their part, no resolve. They fight for nothing, so we shall make them die for nothing. You hear me? They are nothing!"

"They are nothing!" shouted one man, his courage rising, his eyes flashing with an aggressive defiance.

"Here they come, brace yourselves and await my signal." Andraeus growled.

The Jem'Hadar came closer.

"Steady..." he warned.

The Jem'Hadar in the front ranks of their man began firing, their polaron beams filling the wide hallway.

Andraeus roared and thust his palm out in front of himself in a stopping motion, his eyes blazing with power that arced and cascaded over his huge armoured body.

The security troopers watched in amazement as the Jem'Hadar's weapons-fire glanced and bounced harmlessly off a shimmering force field that stood before them, seemingly at Andraeus' call. More polaron pulses flickered and coruscated against the psychic barrier.

One man shouted out in shock and defiance, elated to be alive when moments ago he should have been dead.

"Ready yourselves!" Andraeus snarled, seeing that the Jem'Hadar were given pause, baffled that their weapons were not destroying the foe.

"Fire!" the Ultramarine shouted, letting the defensive shield drop. No sooner had he spoken that his bolter roared to life, the rocket-propelled rounds punching holes in the targets they found, the alien armour unable to resist the terrible inertia or explosive charges of the projectiles.

Shouting in fury, their hatred for these abominations roused to unimaginable levels, the Federation troopers all fired their phaser rifles, striking down their foes in a barrage of righteous fury.

Andraeus concentrated his rage and his revulsion into a burning corona and launched a terrible, almost human-like beast made of living flame hurtling forwards into the Jem'Hadar, engulfing them in fire. Nearly a dozen fell, their charred forms smoking in grisly, stinking monuments to their folly for daring to harm humanity.

Still the enemy came on, heedless of their casualties, enslaved by their single-minded devotion to their breeding and designated purpose, devoid of choice and acting only on implanted compulsion.

So very like the Tyranids he had fought on a dozen different worlds or within the monstrous bowels of their hive ships. Thoughtless and bent on destruction, they were so much less than human.

Lightning lanced from his gauntlets and arced between the Jem'Hadar soldiers, cooking several of them inside their suits, leaving them as shrivelled, smoking husks on the ground. Relentless, they continued their charge, firing their weapons. His armour hissed and crackled as it absorbed the assault of their weapons.

Nearly forty of them had fallen, but still they persisted, undaunted.

Very well, then. Let them taste our fury, blade to blade.

Andraeus drew deep within himself, stilling his soul and forsaking the world around him. As his prodigious mental abilities extruded him from the linear progression of the universe, he attained a prescience and alertness that would crack the mind of a lesser being. He could see things before they happened and react before the foe was aware of his own actions.

Phaser fire behind him, piercing down the hallway, striking into their foes, led by the enigmatic alien mind of Jadzia Dax. Reinforcements had arrived and they would be welcome, if a tad late for the fight and only in time to see the finale.

Before anyone around him could react or even see him move, Andraeus had surged forward again, his glowing force sword ready. Time was a fluid and irrelevant thing now, all nonsense and a weapon to be manipulated against his enemy. His entire body moved more quickly than another would bat an eye or their muscles could even twitch.

One thing that had always fascinated him about his abilities as a psyker was his new understanding and appreciation for the universe on some mathematical level. Though he had shown some aptitude for such endeavours as a young man on Ultramar before he had been chosen, it was only after he had been inducted into the ranks of the Ultramarines' librarians that he began to realize the cosmic common sense of things.

What normal men strove to understand about reality with their calculations and formulations, he now could simply witness and feel flowing all around him, as if he controlled and commanded the numbers and concepts that united all of creation in one simple magnetic force.

The myriad and endless computations and calculations of possibility laid themselves out for him to read and discern now, each foe's very being a simple mathematical equation to be subtracted from existence while he and his allies grew ever stronger via simple multiplication at a geometric rate. There was an elation to the simplicity of it all, feeling his mind escaping the bonds of percieved reality and yet rejecting and forcing his will upon the cold logic of equations and numerical empiricism.

He twisted and dodged between the energy pulses of his foe's weapons and then was deep in their midst. He could see the cunning glint of a ruthless intelligence in their eyes, but attesting to his assessment, they were also devoid of passion and true resolve. They were machines, bred for battle and victory, but simply organic machines. They had no soul to fight for.

As he spun and struck, knowing that his Jem'Hadar enemies would only just be cognisant of his presence now, he knew he had effectively cut them off, close to their rear where he would be least expected and most likely to cause shock and disorder. Enemy after enemy fell, victim to the vicious bite of his force sword or the point-blank devastation of his bolter, the bullets of which would literally blow them apart at these close quarters.

He was dimly aware of his allies' weapons, still digging into the Jem'Hadar, attempting to slow their advance. He could feel their aggression towards these soulless aliens, he knew they were moving forward and closing the range, heartened by his words.

He also felt their lives departing as they fell to the Jem'Hadar polaron rifles, struck by the horrendous energy beams. No matter what he did here, would there be enough of them to win this engagement? Would he be the only one left?

He could not let that happen. Even as he fought beyond the subjective chains of time, faster than any corporeal being could follow, he began planning his next move and how to win the following phase of this engagement. He had to compel the Jem'Hadar to retreat. They were not after him and they were all over the station. Even he couldn't protect the entire place at once.

It was a calculated risk, but he dropped himself out of the temporal bubble he had created, coming back to real time and space. His own actions now seemed sluggish and wearisome, like those of the foe that roiled around him. They may have been initially shocked by his presence but they recovered quickly and converged on him, attempting to tear him apart.

He fought against the teeming foe methodically, but his mind was elsewhere. It reached out into the stars, looking for the enemy ship, knowing that what he sought would be found there...

* * *

Captain Sisko glared at the screen, the laceration that ran down the side of his head to his cheek burning fiercely, but he ignored it. From the large viewer, looking on impassively, the Vorta Weyoun addressed him.

"Captain, surely you must see the hopelessness of this situation," he crooned. "Best that you just lay down your lives and let it be done with, why resist? I may even be able to convince the Jem'Hadar to allow the Bajorans to live, quite possibly the children. Let us be practical, the Dominion's dispute is with the Federation, not Bajor. Why drag them into this and make them suffer?"

"That's one of the things I like about you, Weyoun, you sound so reasonable and talk such a good game." Sisko replied, trying not to show how winded he really was. Another Jem'Hadar attempt to storm the bridge had been repulsed, but only barely. "It almost makes me wish I could play baseball against you, but unless you're trying to arrange that, then we really don't have much to say to one another!"

Weyoun's eyes hardened slightly. "And you, Captain, are always direct and to the point. So be it. This is my final offer. Surrender the Founder to me unharmed and I promise you that the civilians will not be hurt."

"No offense, but I've learned the hard way not to trust the word of a Vorta," Sisko spat as he spun and shot another Jem'Hadar warrior who materialized randomly inside the bridge. "And while tiresome, I am completely confident in my ability to hold this station against your vaunted Jem'Hadar soldiers, thank you!"

Weyoun smiled almost dolefully. "Captain, surely you are not positing the notion that humans or Bajorans are a match for the finest warriors of the Gamma Quadrant, are you? I might be convinced that the best-trained Klingons draw some form of parity, but not you."

"I think you would be surprised what we humans are capable of, Weyoun, allow me to demonstrate!" the captain snarled, finally tired of the Vorta's condescending tone. He centered on the section where the most fighting was taking place and allowed the video feed to go to Weyoun's ship.

The Vorta frowned initially as he watched trying to make sense of the wild images he was seeing. It somehow appeared that twenty security officers were holding off over a hundred Jem'Hadar. Then he caught sight of something, or someone- a titanic armoured warrior, deep in the midst of his troops, locked in a bloody melee with them, using a terrifying blade that cut them to ribbons and some heavy projectile rifle at point blank range, blowing them apart. In spite of their numerical superiority, the Jem'Hadar could not seem to defeat him. He was a whirling engine of destruction unlike anything Weyoun had ever seen before.

And he was most certainly human.

"Impressive, captain," he mused finally. "But I have several hundred or more Jem'Hadar waiting to take the fight to this stranger and your paltry internal scrambler fields cannot stop me from transporting them all to that location. This secret weapon of your will be overwhelmed and then the station will be ours. There are not enough Klingons to aid you."

"Are you sure he is the only one?" Sisko said threateningly.

"My dear captain, I am disappointed in you, for clearly you don't understand how closely we study our foes," Weyoun seemed to mourn. "If the Federation had more warriors like that man aboard the station, they would already be fighting, so that it was plain to us that retreat was our best option. That way, you would protect your precious civilians from casualties. You Federation officers are so noble but also so transparent in your actions; you make horrible liars."

"I'll take that as a compliment," Sisko said levelly, suddenly wishing he were better at lying. "But it looks to me like my oversized friend is holding up quite nicely."

Weyoun looked at the screen again, watching the battle. It may not have been obvious to the Captain Sisko, but this huge warrior was clearly learning as he fought, targeting weak spots and vulnerabilities on the Jem'Hadar as he found them or learned of them. He evidently had a holographic memory. His armour was scored with the marks of melee weapons and also polaron rifles, but it seemed intact and ready to take more.

This was indeed a complication he had not foreseen. He watched the screen intently, trying to work out a solution to the dilemma that did not involved pouring the rest of his Jem'Hadar into the fray, as they would doubtless suffer horrendous casualties that he would called upon by the Founder to answer for.

And then the massive warrior was simply gone.

The Jem'Hadar paused, confused for a moment before their impeccable training and instincts took over and redirected them back toward the Federation troops who were still holding their position and firing at them from just down the wide corridor. They charged, bent on slaughter.

Weyoun smiled at Captain Sisko. "Well now, captain, I must thank you for such an entertaining interlude. I will admit you had me worried there for a moment, but life returns to normal now. I have given you chances and you have thrown them back at me scornfully, so I am afraid this is the end. It truly has been a pleasure."

Sisko's mind whirled. Where had the space marine gone? He prepared to give orders to be ready for another wave of Jem'Hadar. His defence had not been hinging on Mister Andraeus and even if that seemingly valuable gambit was no longer available, he had no intention of losing.

* * *

When Andraeus materialized again, he was inside an engine room of alien design, its great core thrumming and calling out with a dreadful power that chilled him to the bone. How could these fools not know or understand what they were tampering with?

A Jem'Hadar warrior spotted him, but it was too late- Andraeus had snapped his neck before he could raise his weapon. Other aliens around the multi-decked room raced toward him, obviously knowing better than to fire their weapons inside what was basically a barely-contained bomb capable of levelling a star system.

Within moments, he had killed seven of them with his force sword and the room was temporarily clear. He glanced around quickly, trying to identify things he had gleaned from the memories of the scientifically-minded Federation officers he had been staying with. It was Chief O'Brien's keen experience that aided him most now, for though the Jem'Hadar ship was laid out differently from Federation vessels, all starships of this era obeyed the same elementary laws of physics, and one of these consoles would control the fusion-powered impulse engine systems...

Based on O'Brien's reasoning, he founds the giant drives and placed several shaped melta charges on them. He then located the impulse engines' control console and pointed his bolter at it, unleashing a torrent of hellfire into the station. Immediately the alarm lights activated and an automated alien voice began chattering urgently. He knew more Jem'Hadar were already on the way, but he had something else he wanted to attend to, now that this ship was doomed...

Sisko watched as the alarm systems aboard the Jem'Hadar warship began sounding and a series of explosions caused the ship to tremble. He saw Weyoun frown and begin giving orders to his bridge crew. The Vorta began checking the consoles and the readouts on his eyepiece, clearly agitated.

"Problems, Weyoun?" Sisko taunted.

"I'm a little busy at the moment, captain, so if you don't mind..." Weyoun hissed, trying to ignore the impudent human. He busied himself with the incoming data, growing paler as he processed and analyzed the reports.

"Impulse engines crippled, overload imminent!" snarled one of the Jem'Hadar working at a console behind him. "The safety system and all circuits are completely destroyed, we cannot stop it! Fifty four seconds!"

Weyoun was about to say something when the massive human warrior was suddenly on the bridge with him. Captain Sisko looked nearly as shocked as the Vorta when Mister Andraeus appeared out of nowhere. The space marine shot a Jem'Hadar warrior through the head and clove another in two before he was upon Weyoun and gripped him by the back of the neck, causing the alien to go limp. He held Weyoun aloft by strength alone and glared into his violet eyes.

"Let it be known that the Federation has defenders the likes of which you can never match, alien," Andraeus hissed in the Vorta's ear. "I and people like me will be the annihilation of your whole race."

And then he was gone.

Weyoun collapsed to his knees for a moment before getting back on his feet. The countdown to the breach continued.

"Turn the vessel about one hundred and eighty degrees and get us away from the station, full thrusters!" he ordered desperately. "The Founder must not be harmed by our demise!"

There was a moment where his eyes locked with Sisko's before the screen blinked off and the Vorta's image was gone. The sensors watched as the massive Jem'Hadar warship came about and peeled away at its best available speed, straining to reach open space...

It almost looked like a nova when the ship destroyed itself, a corona of raw energy pulsing away from the doomed vessel as it disintegrated. Sisko bit his lip as the shockwave reached the station, rocking it so badly that the stabilizers were barely able to maintain the axis and orbit. He was thrown from his feet, slamming against a console but standing tall quickly.

"Report!" he shouted. "I want news of any damage from that blast and somebody tell me what the hell is going on with the fighting aboard my station!"

A political leader from the pre-spaceflight era had once been quoted as saying _"If you are going through hell, keep going."_

That was exactly what Captain Sisko intended to do.

* * *

The battle had see-sawed for several moments after Andraeus disappeared randomly, with the Jem'Hadar closing to almost melee range. More security squads had come rushing up to reinforce the defenders, but the sheer impetus of the Dominion charge was too much for them to cope with.

And then Andraeus was back somehow.

Initially Jadzia was elated, but as she stepped aside behind a bulkhead for a moment to recalibrate her weapon, she took notice of something that she had not seen before or maybe was trying to avoid seeing- there was a glint of something akin to glee or satisfaction in the titan Ultramarine's eyes as he slew the Jem'Hadar, like a sense of personal accomplishment.

The station had rocked violently as something exploded in the space beyond and several combatants on both sides had been thrown from their feet. Andraeus, of course, had not been and pressed his advantage. Stranger still, the Jem'Hadar seemed confused, as if suddenly devoid of orders or a general purpose. They resumed fighting, but something had happened, something that had shaken their coordination, if not their resolve.

While the Federation troops initially held back and attempted to keep the Dominion warriors within firing range, Andraeus' appearance caused them to shout and then charge headlong into the Jem'Hadar, something that the Federation would normally consider suicidal.

Something in the way the security troops fought chilled her. They too seemed eager to slay the enemy, not because it was their duty, but something much more primal, an instinct that Star Fleet training was supposed to repress.

She watched in horror as one of the troopers knocked a foe down with a phaser rifle butt across the jaw and then leapt onto the down alien, using his combat knife to tear his throat apart. The trooper's eyes were wild with what she could only call blood lust. She noticed it on the face of the other human troopers and she wasn't the only one- their Bajoran comrades seemed stunned, many of them simply watching, their rifles limp in their hands as the massacre ensued.

Two more security squads now joined the fray, this time approaching from the rear of the Jem'Hadar. To Dax's distress, these squads were both Federation and the troopers seemed to share the affliction she had already noticed in those engaged. They fired into the Jem'Hadar as they charged but then closed to melee, fighting with a ferocity she was used to seeing only in Klingons or possibly the Naussicans.

She wanted to looked away but could not- she watched on in rapt dismay until the battle was over. She reflected on all she had seen over her several lives and centuries of experience- the agonies of defeat, the thrill of victory and the simple joy of having survived another day. But now, watching the humans standing over the seemingly numberless bodies of their dispatched foes, seeing them wild with their triumph and cheering, she felt sickened, for she could almost _hear_ the savage chanting in their heads, words she had never wanted to hear...

Death to the alien.

She closed her eyes and composed herself, thinking about the station and the fact that it was still vulnerable. Giving herself purpose, she gazed one more time at the carnage and her eyes met those of Andraeus. He was standing tall, surrounded by his fellow humans, who were cheering and lauding him for leading them to a spectacular victory over the Jem'Hadar. She noted the grim satisfaction in his face and realized that his power over people would be the ruin of them all.

* * *

**Author's Notes: **I was amused by people taking issue with my choice of Marine chapter for the protagonist, but this is simply fanfiction, no more. Once again, you will just need to deal if Andraeus' powers do not seem canon enough for you.

Yes, yes, having an Ultramarine do the hunka-chunka with an alien is probably odd (for any Space Marine chapter), but the notion of Dax trying to have sex with him tickled my funny bone. Various howls of rage will be cheerfully endured.

I am trying hard to get the manner of speech for various people from the DS9 cast right. I think I'm doing pretty damn well with them so far, especially Sisko. I liked how Weyoun sounded and Dax as well. Should have a little more play for the other people in the following chapters, so hang tight.

A few people had the critique that the background goings-on of DS9 were not examined or displayed deeply enough. As with all my fics, that will get a little more in depth as the chapters go on.

Doubtless someone will squawk that Andraeus is ridiculously powerful compared to his surroundings, but I'm okay with that. He's meant to be unlike anything they've ever seen before in Federation space. I've made him a powerful Ultramarines librarian, not an average one, if that helps. Imagine the fun I could have had by dropping Tigurius or Mephiston back on DS9...

Anyhoo, this has been the second chapter, and I hope you enjoyed it. I've gotta get my next chapter for The Young Conqueror up in time for Chinese New Year, so this will resume shortly after that.

Keep your stick on the ice and death to the alien!

- Management


	3. Chapter 3

**Star Trek: Deep Space 9**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own nor did I invent Star Trek: Deep Space 9 or any of its concepts, nor do I own or did I invent Warhammer 40k or its concepts. Extant characters are used for recreational reading only and no profit. Any characters I have created are purely for interaction purposes with the universes borrowed and portrayed. Please enjoy this bit of challengefic fluff. Reviews are welcome, flames will be laughed at. Glory to the Emperor of Mankind!

**The Distant And Not-So-Bright Future, Phase III- For Emperor's Sake, Behave!**

Captain Sisko leaned against the long conference table wearily, massaging his temples and wondering what to say. Mister Andraeus stood before him, once again in the bodysuit they had synthesized for him. His injuries from the battle had healed with remarkable speed, even the polaron wounds, which seemed to be no match for the Larraman's Cells that coursed through his enhanced structure.

Normally Sisko would have conducted this 'debrief' in private, but he felt a need for the others to be here as well- Dax, Major Kira, Constable Odo, Chief O'Brien, Doctor Bashir and even Mister Garak were present. Like Andraeus, they waited quietly while the Captain considered his words.

Finally Sisko spoke, his words slow and measured. "Mister Andraeus, everyone here owes you a debt of gratitude," he began. "I will be the first to admit that without you, the station might very well have been overrun and we might all be dead."

Andraeus nodded. "Mayhap, captain, but we are not here to discuss victory, it is plain that something is bothering you. I do not need my psychic powers to see that."

"You're right, of course," Sisko continued wearily, the wound on his head aching, even though Bashir had healed it. "Something very distressing is on my mind. You are, without question, the most formidable warrior and weapon in the known galaxy, regardless of whether the story of your origins is true or not. You almost single-handedly defeated a Jem'Hadar battleship, something that no one in the Alpha Quadrant would consider even remotely possible."

"But what is bothering me, Mister Andraeus, is the effect you are having on my men," Sisko said tightly, not letting his temper get the better of him. "Answer me plainly and honestly, please... did you use your telepathic powers to influence my human Federation troops, to make them fight harder by inducing an irrational hatred of aliens within them?"

"There is nothing irrational about it, captain," Andraeus said levelly. "Where I come from, we-"

"This is _not_ where you come from!" Sisko raged, slamming his palm on the table, standing and beginning to pace back and forth. "You generously let me see the future, a time I am so horrified by that _maybe_ I understand humanity's xenophobia forty thousand years from now... but understand, Andraeus, you are _not_ in your Imperium and for all you know, humanity must have this period of peace and understanding with aliens in order for your galaxy and reality to come about!"

Andraeus said nothing, letting the captain continue.

"Dammit, man!" Sisko hissed. "You were inspiring to watch; even the Klingons were stunned by what they saw! But you cannot turn your fellow humans against the other races of our time! The Federation is built on trust between the species that compose it and while humans are the most numerous, we do not consider ourselves an elite or superior ruling class! Much of our wisdom came from the Vulcans, much of our diplomatic skill comes from the Betazoids and the Trill provide us with exquisite scientific knowledge."

Sisko stopped pacing and looked at Andraeus, his eyes flashing. "If your emperor is indeed immortal and walks amongst us now, what makes you so sure he is not currently a diplomat on Vulcan or learning from the scientists of Trill? Was he a xenophobe like the rest of you?"

Much to his surprise, Andraeus found he had no answer for the captain. He had never really dared to consider the emperor's life or desires before. Every Space Marine knew that the emperor clung to life now, against all odds, to continue guiding humanity through this perilous period in its evolution, waiting for the race to realize its psychic potential and no longer be prey to the terrible entities of the Warp.

It was the noblest calling in history, and the most difficult- to will oneself to survive for years uncounted until your own race was like yourself... immortal and beyond harm. What manner of man did a person have to be?

The emperor at one point had walked amongst these ancient people, been a member of this Federation. Had he approved of harmonious relations with the aliens of this period? Had he been so prescient as to know that one day all aliens would be considered the enemy of humanity, a plague to be eradicated form the universe?

"I know you have told me that this emperor of yours is the most powerful telepath to ever live, and part of me finds it very heartening to know there may be someone like that out there," Sisko said. "But this galaxy is full of perils, Mister Andraeus, and beings we cannot fathom. There is a race we call the Q, and near as we can tell, they are omnipotent and omniscient. The only interference they endure comes from one another. I somehow doubt even the Dominion would be a concern for one of them."

Andraeus considered what the captain was telling him- could these Q entities belong to the warp? Were they perhaps the gods of Chaos? If not, what had become of them in his time?

Sisko marched over to a large screen and activated it. Quark's bar filled the screen and everyone watched the raucous party as the security details celebrated their victory over the Jem'Hadar.

Only Federation humans were celebrating. Any aliens still within the bar were staying far away, even Quark and the Dabo girls.

The troopers were singing songs and composing rhymes and limericks that dealt with the deaths of aliens. O'Brien watched wordlessly while Doctor Bashir turned away, unwilling to witness any more.

"Mister Andraeus, you were a godsend for that battle, but I am not sure the Federation can survive you." Sisko muttered, finally turning off the hateful scene. "I understand that we have a philosophical divergence, but we must also be practical."

"Please elucidate, captain." Andraeus said.

"I appreciate your continued concern for the well-being of your species, but I fear that if you were allowed to assert your will over them, you might tear us apart. I cannot coerce you into refraining from using your powers in that manner, no one can. That much is obvious. But if you Ultramarines are men of honour, as your claim to be, then will you promise me that you will never tamper with the minds of my troops or their allies again?"

Andraeus nodded, knowing he had little choice. "It shall be as you say, captain. I shall exercise restraint and also tolerance while I live amongst you. You may be right, the Emperor might approve of your Federation's forbearance and acceptance and maybe the xenophobia of my own time sickens him. But I will not impose my own era's burdens upon yours."

"Thank you," Sisko said emphatically, appreciating how agreeable Mister Andraeus was being since there was little they could do to control him. "We will continue to work on the temporal anomaly that brought you here and perhaps how to get you back home. But in the meantime, we have other issues to deal with. First, Star Fleet is still on their way to meet our visitor. Second, we also have our changeling prisoner to deal with. Constable, what is the status of the Founder?"

"Stoic, of course, and refusing to confer with anyone aside from myself," the constable replied in his gravelly voice. "The security systems are in place and the destabilizer field within the holding cell is keeping the prisoner in their natural liquid state. I allow the field to be turned off when I enter to interrogate the prisoner since I do not trust to link with them."

"Your caution and diligence is appreciated, constable," Sisko said, nodding. "Major Kira, when is Star Fleet due to arrive so they may examine Mister Andraeus?"

"Within sixteen hours, sir," she said, handing him a databoard. "They were originally going to be here within seventy-two hours, but they met up with a task force and are coming at Warp Eight due to the Dominion attack."

"I must admit, captain, I am not terribly eager to be poked or prodded like a lab ratling or kept penned up like a grox." Andraeus stated.

"I am less than thrilled about it myself, Mister Andraeus," Sisko agreed. "The events I am going to be forced to explain will make things exceedingly difficult around here for a while and I am already up to my pips in reports."

"Perhaps I can... mitigate the effects and recollections of their visit?" the Ultramarine suggested. "In a completely safe and non-lethal way, of course."

"I was hoping you might suggest that." Sisko admitted.

"Captain!" Major Kira blurted, stunned by what she was hearing. "Are you actually condoning the falsification of Star Fleet records and hindering an investigation? We can't do that!"

"I am just being practical, major," Sisko pointed out. "How would we stop Mister Andraeus from doing exactly what he wants? If he is going to alter their memories of the visit, how do you plan to stop him?"

"I... it's one thing for him to do it on his own," she said in exasperation. "But it's another thing entirely for us to be in on it. That's collusion! Captain, the leeway you are giving this man is absurd. No offense, but are you _sure_ he's not psychically influencing you already? I have never known you to be this tolerant of interference in running the station."

"She has a point, captain," O'Brien admitted. "If this'd been anyone more manageable, they'd've been in a holding cell after the fight with the Klingons and still be there."

"Exactly, Chief, thank you for taking my side on this." Sisko agreed.

"What?" O'Brien queried, bewildered. "I did no such thing."

He looked at Kira. "I didn't, honest, I was agreeing with you."

"But you yourself said it, Chief, someone more manageable," Sisko reminded. "Remember how you told me that Captain Picard didn't bother wasting time trying to contain Q when he was aboard the Enterprise? What was the point? He could not control Q and we cannot control Mister Andraeus. So why try? As for him tampering with the memories of the personnel currently en route to meet him, you must admit it makes a certain amount of sense for me to know it's happening, even if I cannot stop it."

"Your captain is right, of course," Andraeus added. "I cannot afford to allow your Star Fleet to detain me or keep me from finding my way back. More than that, what if they _did_ examine me? Can you say with complete certainty that your biological sciences community would not be tempted to try and emulate me in some way?"

Andraeus looked at Doctor Bashir. "Doctor, tell me you are not desperately wishing that you could study and replicate my various organs and physiognomy in order to help advance your research in the healing arts."

"I cannot deny that," Julian admitted. "It was be a truly remarkable gift for helping to aid people... temporary, replacement or supplemental organs for people in need. But if I am correct, these organs of yours are engineered to belong inside a killing machine, and that has no place in my research, if for no other reason than the potential abuses are terrifying."

"At least one of his organs is a deadly weapon..." Dax muttered under her breath.

"Then it's settled," Captain Sisko announced. "Leave Star Fleet to Mister Andraeus and I. We have a station to run and a war to fight, that has not changed. Return to your stations."

The staff rose and exited, leaving Sisko alone with his guest. The titanic warrior waited silently, knowing that there was more the captain wished to discuss.

Sisko sighed and massaged his hand along his head for a few moments, avoiding irritating the scar. "Well, even in the middle of a war like the galaxy has never before known, you certainly have a way of keeping things interesting, Mister Andraeus."

Andraeus smiled grimly. "And here I was just thinking that my life hasn't been this calm in over three centuries."

"I admit I am still in shock about the far future and what it quite possibly holds for us." Sisko admitted. "I will be blunt; I frankly hate the sound of your reality."

"The Imperium of Man is dark, cruel and bloody beyond all imagination, not to mention corrupt and amoral. But for all that, it is humanity's only hope, captain. If the Imperium were not as strong and centralized as it is, our entire race would have been annihilated thousands of years in my past. The Imperium may not be what the Emperor intended, but it is still our best hope."

"Do you ever wonder if things might have been different had another tact or line of thought been tried?" Sisko asked.

"No," Andraeus said plainly. "I fully believe the Emperor was correct in his assessments. Keep in mind, captain, that if the lore of the Astartes chapters is correct, then he was born some fifty-thousand years prior to my own time and ten thousand before yours. All that accumulated knowledge and wisdom is unparalleled. What other being would one trust in preference?"

"Difficult logic to argue against, granted," Sisko said reasonably. "But something about all this is still incongruous to me. Even forty thousand years from now, how can things have changed so very radically? Where are the alien races I know? Can they have all been obliterated so completely that no traces remain?"

"Our scientists do find traces of ancient civilizations on some worlds, cultures and races we have no record of, so quite possibly those would be your Trill, Vulcans and Klingons, I surmise." Andraeus suggested.

"And what of these races you have told me about, the Eldar, Orks and Tau? You said the Eldar are an ancient race that precedes our own. Where are they in my time?"

"I have pondered that very question already, captain, and I freely admit I have no answer for you." Andraeus admitted. "But I do have another question for you, an issue that has bothered me since my arrival."

"And what would that be, my friend?"

Andraeus strode over to a port window and gestured out. Sisko joined him and saw the Marine was indicating the wormhole.

"Tell, me, captain, what you know about the entities that live within that anomaly."

"You mean the Prophets of Bajor?" Sisko asked. "They consider themselves the guardians of the Bajoran people who live on the planet below. As to what they are, nobody really knows and they have not seen fit to explain themselves to us. Judging by the look on your face, you have detected their presence with your abilities."

"And they have sensed me," Andraeus confirmed. "Their minds touched mine and recoiled, so clearly they know not what to expect of me. In my own time, we could consider them beings of the Warp."

"And the warp is where the psychic entities that you say have become the gods of Chaos live and wait to feed on humanity." Sisko continued.

"Aye," Andraeus said. "And your technology allows you to travel through warpspace so freely. In our own time, the device we call a Geller Field protects us from the entities that claw at ships as they travel through the Warp. To lose a Geller Field while in the warp is a fate worse than death, it is an eternity of torturous damnation."

"That would explain your unease during our trip back to the station from Thelos," Sisko concluded. "Even our warpspace here must resonate with you."

"In an odd way, yes it does. For a psychic like myself, travelling through the warp is a cacophonous experience, a distressing symphony of promised madness. For those of us who distrust the Warp and know its true nature, your cavalier attitude about using it as a tool with no will or mind of its own is strange indeed."

"How does your Imperial government deal with it?" Sisko asked.

"The Administratum suppresses knowledge of the beings of the Warp and the threat the powers of Chaos represent." Andraeus stated in a matter-of-fact tone. "The beings of the Warp whisper blasphemies and seduce those who can hear them, not only subverting the victim's mind but also finding ways to enter our universe vis-à-vis their complicity. Therefore, Imperial citizens exposed to the Warp are purged, or at the very least mindscrubbed. What they do not know cannot hurt them or tempt them."

"I find the notion of such repression appalling, I will admit." Sisko said. "The Federation embraces knowledge, we do not fear it."

"Mayhap, but your Federation is not aware of the dangers that we face in my own era," Andraeus countered. "You have strictly banned eugenics and genetic engineering in this age. because of its potential abuse and the lessons you have learned from those wars. In my own time, it has been concluded that humans with psychic abilities are not yet ready to face the perils of the Warp on their own. By your own censure of my government's methods, you should be allowing eugenics and not fearing its potential abuse out of principal."

"I acknowledge the point, Mister Andraeus, though I believe the Federation Council approaches such difficulties from the other end of the spectrum than your ruling body. We assume freedoms and look for the reasonable limits whereas your own methods are to have restrictions in place and freedom is the exception or loophole."

"A dear and fanciful blessing, I must admit, I cannot conceive of such meliorism working effectively in my own reality." Andraeus said thoughtfully.

"It must pain your Emperor deeply to see such repression if he is or was as benevolent as you believe him to be." Sisko mused. "You said he was an atheist who believed in the triumph of reason and science."

"So say our most ancient documents and codexes, long considered anachronistic and even heretical these days," Andraeus admitted. "The Imperial Truth was meant to liberate humanity from superstition and repression but seemed to have been doomed from the beginning. Even one of the Space Marine legions, the Word Bearers, attempted to proselytize the worlds they fought on, deifying the Emperor. They believed that he, as the greatest human to ever live, should be worshipped as the god of our race and should not settle for being a mere figurehead."

"Ironic, then, that they turned traitor and fought against him in this Great Heresy you have mentioned." Sisko added.

"Undone and subverted by the whispers of Chaos," Andraeus said ruefully. "Even those of us created from his genetic legacy are not immune to such sedition. His sons, the Primarchs were not, nor are we, their descendants."

"So he created these super-beings, some of whom remained loyal and others were subverted by the Warp, yes?"

"As you say," Andraeus confirmed. "The Primarch of my own Ultramarines chapter, Roboute Guilliman, remained loyal, as did Lion El'Johnson of the Dark Angels, Leman Russ of the Space Wolves, Rogal Dorn of the Imperial Fists and Sanguinius of the Blood Angels, to name a few."

"Their names must be very highly regarded in your Imperium, then."

"Only the Emperor is revered more than the loyalist Primarchs, who were the greatest warriors and strategists humanity has ever known. Sanguinius of the Blood Angels is almost deified and has countless holidays throughout the Imperium dedicated to him. As formidable as I must seem to you, mere Space Marines like myself pale in comparison to our forebears the Primarchs. We are shadows of their true glory."

"I find the notion somewhat disconcerting, given how powerful you seem." Sisko said. "I think I am also somewhat distressed by the vision of a galaxy so fraught with peril that the creation of such beings was necessary. That being said, I am eager to get you on your way back to your own time, where you are doubtless needed."

"I am finding it somewhat tame around here, captain." Andraeus agreed readily.

* * *

The Federation cruiser Samarkand was holding at a steady Warp 8 as it approached the Bajoran system with an ETA of eight hours. The sudden Dominion attack had made all other matters seem less pressing. If Deep Space 9 fell, the wormhole would be open and there was very little the Federation would be able to do to stop the onslaught that would follow.

Aboard the bridge, Lieutenant Arcand was waiting impassively, pondering what he would find once he reached Deep Space 9. He had been accompanied by a team from Star Fleet intelligence, as well as several doctors and biologists. The medical reports of Doctor Bashir were making no sense to anyone and the scattered reports of what this guest was capable of were nothing short of ludicrous. If he was indeed capable of everything that the reports indicated, there was much research to be done and whomever had created this being had much to answer for.

Arcand had graduated from Star Fleet Academy well ahead of schedule and his keen, inquisitive and distrusting nature made him a natural to join the Intelligence branch. He had extracted information from members of the Romulan Tal'Shiar, he held no doubt he would find what he wanted easily from the crew and their visitor. Though only a lieutenant, the executive powers he could invoke were truly impressive if the need arose.

"_This mission is ephemeral. Isn't there a war you should be fighting?"_

Arcand blinked and frowned for a moment, wondering where that sonorous voice had come from. Why was he questioning his mission to himself?

"_Erratic reports are suddenly more important than fighting the Dominion? Since when has that been the case for Star Fleet Intelligence?"_

He felt a stir of irritation, seemingly because what his inner voice was saying made perfect sense. Why were they chasing down these obviously embellished findings when the Dominion remained such a dire threat? The Romulans were still not a factor in the war and the Klingons were spread thin while the Federation regrouped. The defection of Cardassia over to the side of the Dominion was a perilous blow to the safety of the Alpha Quadrant.

He had heard of Dr. Bashir before, a rather whimsical sort, with a tendency to bloviate. Apparently the good doctor was a product of unauthorized genetic modification but it had happened when he was a child and therefore held faultless, allowed to keep his rank. Given that this 'patient' he was working with was ludicrous in terms of his proclaimed abilities, Arcand assumed that the bits and pieces of information he and others were receiving was actually some sort of literary diatribe on Bashir's part, a fanciful 'what-if' that got sent over the network by mistake.

The more he thought about this mission, the less important it seemed to him. Even if some manner of altered individual was aboard Deep Space Nine, the war had to come first, didn't it?

"Sir, we're receiving a report that a Jem'Hadar strike cruiser has been detected in the Bronix System," reported an ensign manning the comm system of the _Samarkand_. "It is not attacking any targets yet but it hasn't been engaged, either. Reports indicate it might be badly damaged."

Arcand furrowed his brow as he considered his options. His orders were clear, but the _Samarkand_ was first and foremost a military vessel, dedicated to defending the Federation from all threats. More than that, if he managed to capture the Jem'Hadar vessel intact, it might prove of great tactical value, not to mention be a _very_ large feather in his cap…

* * *

"Any reports, Chief?" Sisko asked as he patrolled the bridge. "What news of our visitors?"

"Sir, I just received a communique from the _Samarkand_ saying they would be delayed, the length of time unknown," O'Brien said, making a wry face as he read the screen. "Somethin' about having found a crippled Jem'Hadar vessel in the Bronix System and they're going to attempt to capture it…"

He now looked at Sisko. "We've had no reports of Dominion activity out that way, captain. It makes no sense, the Bronix system is so strategically irrelevant that even the Ferengi would recognize that fact. Certainly the Dominion knows that."

Sisko pursed his lips and nodded before striding off the bridge and into the turbolift. "Computer, find Mister Andraeus for me."

"_Mister Andraeus cannot be located." _

"Damn," Sisko muttered. "Alright, find Lieutenant Dax."

"_Lieutenant Dax is in Holosuite Number Four."_

Sisko stepped into Quark's bar, fixing the Ferengi with a pointed look. Quark nodded up at one of the holosuites on the second level and shook his head in despair. Not really sure he wanted to know, the captain made his way up to Holosuite Four and was about to enter when the doors slid open, allow Lieutenant Dax to exit. She was positively glowing and smiled brightly at him.

"Hello, captain…" she purred before sauntering down to the Dabo tables, a decided swish in the way she walked. Sisko pinched his eyes and entered the holosuite. He found Mister Andraeus sitting on a lovely beach, casting his piercing gaze out over the blue waters and seemingly contemplating the colours of the sunset.

"You wish to know how and why the _Samarkand_ was diverted, yes, Captain?" Andraeus said without looking away.

"I suppose it can wait, if you're busy." Sisko replied as he approached the titanic Space Marine and sat down nearby, taking a moment to appreciate the scenery.

"I was just meditating," Andraeus added. "It is something we Librarians of the Astartes are trained to do, to help keep our psychic abilities in check."

"If my mind were getting clawed at and whispered to constantly like yours apparently is, I'd probably look for some inner peace once in a while too." Sisko allowed. He looked around at the program they were sitting in. "Ah, Maui. Specifically the black sands beach near Hana. I love this program."

"These islands are no more in my time," Andraeus said quietly, his voice holding perhaps the faintest whisper of emotion or regret. "Earth, such as you know it, is long gone. It is one massive city and the oceans are little more than reservoirs of black sludge. The air is unbreathable and the atmosphere permanently polluted. To see this earth, to know what had once been…"

Sisko waited with silent respect while Andraeus composed his thoughts.

"I cannot even fight for it," he said finally. "This might as well have never existed. I am in awe of it and yet it means nothing to me."

"I am sorry to hear that," answered Sisko. "To me, your reality is so grim that it almost doesn't seem worth fighting for, at least to my sensibilities. Without freedom, without the pursuit of knowledge and self-determination, it seems almost better to be dead."

Andraeus nodded. "And yet dead is exactly what we would be if people were given that self-determination. Countless planets would be independent and develop psychics who were not controlled and the entire population would soon be lost to Chaos. The universe hates us, captain, and we Astartes are all that stand in the way of oblivion."

Sisko smiled. "Well, I must admit I am far more likely to turn around and fight if I thought the universe was out to get me. I've never been one to get pushed around. But yes, I did come to ask if you were the one who somehow diverted the _Samarkand_ and if so, how?"

Andraeus shrugged his massive shoulders. "I probed a few minds up on your bridge to find out who was coming and where they were. I let my mind reach into the Warp and found Lieutenant Arcand and his crew. I implanted a false impression in their heads about a Dominion vessel in the Bronix System."

"But there is no Jem'Hadar ship in the Bronix System." Sisko pressed.

"No, captain. The crew will remain unthreatened. At best all I have done is impeded Mister Arcand's career in your Star Fleet's intelligence division."

Sisko sighed and looked out at the sun again, feeling the gentle breeze. "Even after they find nothing, they'll be delayed because Star Fleet will want to know what the hell they were doing in Bronix. Just be thankful no other ships got diverted to assist, we need every vessel we've got."

"I made sure that Lieutenant Arcand told Star Fleet that no assistance was necessary." Andraeus pointed out.

Sisko actually laughed. "That is very deep and far-reaching thinking that you do, my friend."

"I take the safety of my race very seriously," the Librarian said without humour. "We Space Marines were created to make sure fewer humans would have to die. It is an honour but also a serious obligation."

"But the _Samarkand_ was over six parsecs away," Sisko mentioned. "Am I to understand that your mind can reach across light years of space?"

"The warp knows few or no physical boundaries, captain." Andraeus explained. "I am certainly an accomplished Librarian, respected by my peers for my strength. But there are Librarians far more powerful than myself, I assure you. Brother Tigurius of my chapter and Lord Mephiston of the Blood Angels are probably the most powerful psychics in the Imperium. Their minds can span the galaxy, given just cause. If they were here, they probably could have compelled someone back on Earth to call off the mission."

Sisko let out a deep breath. "Well, thank you for telling me, because I know I couldn't stop you. At least now my people and I are in the clear."

"My pleasure, captain." Andraeus said agreeably.

"But I have just one more question for now, if you don't mind." Sisko added.

"Please ask then."

"Why was Lieutenant Dax smiling like that when she exited this holosuite? I haven't seen her smiling like that in a _long _time."

"No offense, captain, but are you sure you want to know?" Andraeus asked, turning to look at Sisko.

The captain sighed, thinking better of it. "You are correct, Mister Andraeus. I will leave you to your meditations."

He exited the holosuite and went back to his ready room, muttering about how hard it would be to get any work out of Dax for at least two days.

* * *

Chief O'Brien was staring at a console, working out the matrices that unfolded before him. He barely nodded and Dr Bashir came up and leaned over him, ever curious to know what was going on.

"What particular element or angle of our extraordinary guest's trappings are you examining now?" queried Bashir.

"At the moment it is the composition of his armour, this stuff he calls 'ceramite'," replied the engineer. "For all the apparent barbarity of his Imperium and his insistence that so much technology has been lost, some of his equipment is incredibly impressive."

"Take a look at this," he said, pointing at the screen. "The armour is composed of thousands of layers of some advanced ceramic material. The polymers are arranged in a lattice-type structure, giving them incredible tensile strength. It feels and reacts like a dense metal to shock and impact in that regard but because it is a ceramic, its heat distribution properties are incredible. It would take extended exposure to a high-intensity laser or phaser before it could be penetrated."

"That is impressive." Bashir agreed.

"More than impressive," O'Brien added. "Our closest equivalent is the ablative armour used by the hull on the _Defiant_."

"So what you're saying is that Mister Andraeus is strong enough to wear as personal armour a substance what we might protect our most advanced warships with." Julian mused. "Makes you wonder what kind of enemies his Imperium has to deal with."

"Aye." O'Brien said, changing the image. "I've tried to synthesise it, but not much luck yet. The ceramite doesn't scan very well and I cannot exactly ask him for a sample of it."

"What about his weapons?" Bashir asked.

"Well, the bolt rifle itself is simple enough, the only complication being that you would need to be his size and strength to use it effectively. Maybe smaller versions could be used by some of our more physically fit troopers here on the station, but I'm pretty sure the recoil of that rifle would break my whole body off if I tried to fire it. The propellant is incredibly volatile and the explosive charges inside the charge are just brutal."

"Brutal weapon for a brutal universe." Julian observed. "What about the sword?"

"Afraid I'll need your help with that one," Miles admitted. "The material is an unusual metal that is incredibly hard but it also reacts strangely to certain types of energy waves."

"Let me guess… theta waves." Bashir guessed. He nodded as O'Brien showed him the readings that they managed to glean from the weapon. Indeed the sword did seem to resonate with the theta waves emanating from Mister Andraeus.

"Even if I could replicate the material of the sword, there's no way to reproduce any sort of psychic matrix that would allow it to function like it does for him."

"Best not to waste your time trying then," Julian concluded. "I have gleaned a lot from my readings of his physiology but little that we could use. They all seem to be tied together on some basic level; they don't really operate independently of one another."

"I've been watchin' him train in the holosuites," added O'Brien. "Damned scariest thing I've ever seen. There's nothin' that man can't kill- Jem'Hadar, Naussicans, Klingons, Borg…"

"Even the Borg," Julian exclaimed, impressed. "Can his bolt rifle penetrate their personal shields?"

"That's just it, I don't rightly know," Miles replied, turning away from the screen. "He didn't use his rifle or sword, he just wore his armour and used some sort of oversized combat knife. Sensors indicate he didn't even use his psychic talents, just his raw strength and training. I watched him grab a Borg drone by the ankle and slam it off the ground repeatedly until it broke. Literally, man. He broke it!"

"He does seem to have a rather merciless mindset," Julian mused. "From what he has told me, the Space Marines are not exactly a subtle tool, they are used to pitilessly annihilate whatever target they are pointed at. Humanity's other defenders are left to hold the line, the so-called Astartes do what they cannot."

"I would love to be able to simulate so much of what Mister Andraeus talk about, even if I don't want to see his reality," O'Brien said. "It is certainly presents an interesting hypothetical scenario."

"I know exactly what you mean," Julian replied, smiling slyly. "Perhaps we should ask our guest some more questions…"

* * *

"I had been told that you were not exactly the talkative sort, that you were a man of action," the Cardassian named Garek said as he strolled up beside Andraeus while he looked out one of the portal windows on the Promenade. "I think we all witnessed the truth of this during the battle. On behalf of everyone you saved on the station, I thank you, Captain Parmenio."

"The gratitude of aliens means nothing to me," Andraeus said bluntly. "You would do well to remember that, Cardassian."

"Really?" Garek replied, smirking. "Would that include the good Lieutentant Dax?"

For a moment, Andraeus considered causing Garek's brain to boil and explode within his skull, but he _had_ promised Captain Sisko he would not kill any more aliens out of hand, no matter how annoying they were.

"I must tell you that everyone was astonished by your prowess during the engagement with the Jem'Hadar, captain," Garek said. "It has led to much speculation about what conditions must be like in your own time where a single Space Marine is more than a match for the best the Dominion can throw at us. What terrible foes you must face when we count as little more than practice and target dummies for you."

Clearly the alien was insinuating something to Andraeus. Garek spoke softly as if not wishing to be heard, even though this part of the Promenade's upper deck was bereft of any activity. "Do you not find it incongruous that there is absolutely no trace or remnants in your Imperium of any of the races of our time, except for humans? It is rumoured that you live in a galaxy-spanning empire. If such a thing is true, where are the ancient civilizations and ruins of the Romulans, Klingons, Cardassians and the Dominion?"

"More than that, you are inferring that several alien races that pre-date humanity are missing from your own time," Andraeus added, sensing where Garek was headed with this line of questioning. "Where are the Eldar and the Orks and the Tau?"

"A most astute question, my friend," Garek said, beaming a big smile. "Such things are impossible. The complete eradication of all the races we know today? Impossible. The fact that ancient races such as you describe nowhere to be found in the galaxy right now? Equally impossible."

Garek now leaned in, smiling conspiratorially. "And when you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth."

"You are suggesting an alternate dimension or reality." Andraeus stated.

"You would not be the first such person to cross in such a matter," Garek confirmed. "Just the most destructive."

"Since you have reached this theory on your own, I will tell you that I have considered such a possibility myself," Andraeus said, nodding. "That would make a great deal of sense, given the many contradictions I have seen thus far."

"So the warp of this time may not be the threat it is in your own time and it is entirely possible that your immortal God-Emperor simply does not exist in this time and never will. Between you and me, speaking as an alien, if you will, I find that notion rather comforting." Garek intoned.

Andraeus felt a small surge of fury at the Cardassian's heretical words, but calmed himself, admitting that there was a distinct chance that Garek was right. There were too many disconnects in the logic equation here for him to ignore such a possibility.

What if this was an alternate dimension? What if the only similarity between the two realms was the existence of humanity? What if the warp of this dimension never became the realm of Chaos and simply remained a convenient method of hyperspace travel?

As a Librarian of the Ultramarines, Andraeus had scrutinized some of the oldest and most ancient records available to his Chapter, the Administratum or even the Inquisition- the Gods of Chaos had begun to take form in what was considered the first of Terra's many Dark Ages, maybe a thousand or so standard years in the past of these people.

"You're searching for something, aren't you?" Garek interrupted smiling slyly. "I can see my words have piqued your curiosity and you want to know what's out there now."

Andraeus ignored the Cardassian and continued to focus.

"How vulnerable are you in this meditative state?" asked Garek.

"Pull out the miniature disruptor pistol in the hidden compartment of your boot and find out." Andraeus growled, regretting his promise to Captain Sisko. He reached out with his mind, easing through the soup-like depths of reality and pushing into the warp- he sensed discord and not even the least fractal of logics. Mathematically, this warpspace was simply waiting to be given an equation, no doubt the hyperspace travel that these beings imposed upon it.

He sensed consciousness, many of them, but they were not native to the warp. Countless beings inside their ships, protected by their screens, but no malevolent, free-floating minds indigenous to this dimension.

"_Well now, what are you?"_ asked a rather snide voice amidst all the white noise of warpspace.

"_That is none of your business, alien." _Andraeus said tersely, annoyed at the intrusion.

"_Well based on that response you're a human, that much is obvious," _replied the entity. He could feel the being's burgeoning power and psyche bearing down on his own, threatening to overwhelm even his considerable mental shields. If he could not hold it off, perhaps there was some advantage to letting it see into a part of his mind...

"_Vileness! Anathema!" _the being spat as it retreated from his mind, repulsed by the images of Andraeus' universe and the glory of the Emperor. _"You do not belong here!"_

"_What are you, alien?"_ Andraeus demanded, using the momentary unbalance to discern a flash of the being's purpose and nature. He could not defeat it, but at least now he had an inkling of what he stood against.

"_I am Q," _declared the entity in a haughty tone, meant to awe and intimidate. _"I can see Captain Sisko has mentioned you to me."_

"_He mentioned happily punching you in the face,"_ answered the Space Marine, enjoying Q's discomfiture at his response. _"You need not worry, alien, you are not a threat to me, nor of any interest."_

"_That is for me to decide, not you,"_ Q said, having recovered from the unpleasantries of touching Andraeus' mind. _"And your suspicions are correct- you have crossed realities or dimensions, as your limited species understands such matters. The plane of existence you come from and this one diverged uncounted thousands of years ago."_

"_That much is obvious, because you do not exist in my own realm, not as you do here," _Andraeus confirmed. _"In my realm and time, your kind has mutated and corrupted in the Warp, becoming the fallen entities we call the Ch-"_

_"Get back to where you come from_, _you abomination, and trouble my galaxy no more!" _Q shouted in his head.

And then the being was gone.

Andraeus opened his eyes and sighed. That had been singularly unpleasant. If the beings known as the Q truly were the entities of Chaos in his own time, they had become something else entirely here. They had evolved differently and now roamed this universe freely, more like omnipotent children rather than the reality-destroying horrors they were in his own. The only similarity seemed to be the endless caprice.

"Are you alright?" Garek asked, leaning around slightly to look up at Andraeus. "You went almost rigid for several seconds and did not respond to my questions."

"That might normally have been boredom, but yes, I was occupied." Andraeus growled. "And as much as it pains me to admit it, Cardassian, you are correct. I am indeed from another reality."

"Then you should tell the good captain, he might be very pleased to know this." Garek suggested.

"No," the Space Marine said firmly. "Now is not the time, a complication has arisen. I must do what I can to correct this matter on my own."

"I am not sure I agree," Garek said, now taking a step back warily. "If you will not, that I-"

"You will do nothing," Andraeus said, his tone dire as he turned to glare at Garek. "I would hate to break my promise to Captain Sisko by killing you, but I see I must bind your will, to make sure you can tell no one, nor have any desire to."

Garek could not look away as Andraeus trapped his mind in what felt like jaws of steel. He winced as the Space Marine's unearthly will subsumed his own and forced his own desires far from his mind. Garek's teeth clench as he fought, but to no avail. He collapsed to his knees, panting.

"Know that I will release your mind when this is all over, Cardassian," Andraeus said, looking down at Garek without remorse. "It might be the first time I have ever done an alien a favour."

He now turned and strode away, already considering what he needed to do to accomplish his goals. It would not be easy, but there was little choice. Things were far more volatile than he had guessed.

And there was precious little time if he was to save this galaxy from a fate worse than death.

* * *

Quark had just locked up the bar and wiped his brow, quite worn out from what had been a frantic few days. While the wild celebrations courtesy of the Federation's human crew members had been very good for his business and profits, it had also proven very unnerving, since they were gleefully cheering about their triumph over aliens and their deserved demise. Whatever hold the Space Marine had on these people, Quark could not see it being a good thing for the harmony of the station.

And even the dumbest Ferengi knew that disharmony was bad for business, unless you were an arms dealer.

He turned a corner on the way to his quarters and stopped dead- towering over him, quite possibly twice his height, Andraeus Parmenio stared down at him coldly, seemingly trying to think of reasons not to step on him. Quark swallowed nervously, he had not been close the visitor from the future before while he was standing up. Even Klingons didn't make him this nervous.

"So…" he said somewhat weakly, desperate to break the silence. "Killed anyone yet today?"

"The day is not over yet." Andraeus said flatly.

"Oh, true," Quark allowed, his mind racing. "Ummm… can I interest you in a tailor-made holosuite program or two? I'd be happy to open my bar and-"

"Let us make sure that we are clear on something, alien." Andraeus growled, kneeling down so he was eye to eye with the little being. "I care neither for your discourse nor your company. But there is something I believe you can do for me."

"I see," Quark replied, sensing a deal to be made and recovering some of his composure. "What is it I can do and what kind of payment or compensation are we talking about?"

"No payment." Andraeus said in his deep monotone. "Though I may let you live."

Quark's eyes hardened. "I would rather die than do something _gratis _for a close-minded hu-man like yourself. Dr Bashir told me you said you cannot read Ferengi minds, so let me make this clear for you, Space Marine. Kill me if you want, but that'll break your promise to Captain Sisko, which I doubt will please him. On the other hand, if you want to do business, try acting a little politer for a change. If it kills you, I promise not to tell anyone."

Andraeus reached out and used his huge hand to cover Quark's face and gripped it firmly. Clearly he was demonstrating that he could squash the Ferengi's head like a grape if he so chose.

"Ftill not intimidated." Quark said in a muffled voice.

Andraeus sighed and released the little alien's head. Quark huffed and straightened out his clothes. "I'm sure the security cameras will get a kick out of that. Now, let's try this again. What can I do for you?"

The space marine drew in a deep breath, reminding himself to be tolerant. "It has been intimated to me from various sources aboard the station that you are the per- the being to go to if one wishes to acquire less than legal resources. Am I correct?"

"Maybe," Quark said in a non-committal tone. "What is it that you seek to acquire, hu-man?"

"Though I believe in many ways that the Federation's scientific knowledge surpasses that of my Imperium, there are substances in this universe that hold unknown qualities for you people. I wish to procure such a substance."

Quark looked around the corridor warily for a moment.

"The station's monitoring systems cannot hear us," Andraeus said simply. "I need what is called dilithium."

"Is that so?" Quark mused, rubbing his chin with his fingers. "Maybe something can be done about that, but there is one small hitch."

"And what would that be, alien?" Andraeus asked darkly.

"What could you possibly have that I would be interested in?" replied the Ferengi. "If you even have money it is of no use to me except as a curio, and there's no profit in that."

"Have I not already offered to let you live?" the space marine growled.

"Life without profit isn't worth living," Quark said simply. "You want dilithium, which will be tough for me to get hold of and I am simply asking for compensation equal to the risk. Do they not have commerce in this Imperium of yours?"

"You seem to know an awful lot about me and my time for someone who hasn't been part of the command briefings." Andraeus warned.

"I hear things," was the dismissive reply. "Information can be profitable, but only when used correctly. Now… if I get you dilithium, how would you want to pay me?"

Andraeus clenched his fist reflexively several times. This was even more irksome that fighting the Tau. "I don't need to be able to read your thoughts to see that you have something in mind already. Say what it is, alien."

"There is a nearby system called Heraklion and the moon of the fourth planet is a haven for the Orion Pirates," Quark began. "One of the warlords there is making my life difficult when it comes to moving my merchandise, since he often monitors and flexes his muscles on the commercial shipping lanes in these parts. Your muscles are a lot bigger than his, I was thinking that maybe you could flex back on my behalf."

"You want me to travel to this planet and eradicate this nest of pirates?" Andraeus asked.

"No, nothing that drastic," Quark said hastily, realizing it would not take much for the Space Marine to obliterate all illegal activity in the region if he got too happy with his boltgun. "What I meant was that maybe you could change his mind about discriminating against my activities the way he does."

"Surely the Federation would do this for you." Andraeus reasoned.

"If the Federation moved on Heraklion IV, they'd clean it up entirely, meaning that no one would get _anything_ smuggled through this region again for a long time," Quark pointed out. "No, I like Heraklion IV as the den of iniquity that it is. What I _am_ saying is that if you were to give my tormentor a not-so-subtle hint and convince him to lay off, then I could increase my latinum income quickly and you would have your dilithium for whatever it is you plan to do. Seems fair, yes?"

"What if he proves intractable to your winning personality?" asked the man from the future.

"Well, I suppose if a few people had to suddenly no longer be with us it wouldn't be a terrible thing. If this pirate captain won't be persuaded, perhaps his replacement could be."

"I don't want to kill humans, alien." Andraeus said stonily.

"Assuming that this person could only be a human, so typical," Quark lamented, shaking his head. "If memory serves, he's a Naussican. Does that help?"

"Not as much as if he had been a Ferengi," Andraeus muttered. "Still, I somehow doubt that Captain Sisko would approve of my involvement in such a scheme."

Quark shrugged. "So who says he has to know? I heard O'Brien whining about the fact that you can't be found unless you want to be found, not to mention you could make everyone forget you were missing to begin with. You promised not to make the hu-man crew hate aliens and this has nothing to do with that promise. I can get you to Heraklion IV, you can do your thing and be back for physical education with Dax in no time. Now do you want the Dilithium or not?"

Andraeus assessed the alien warily. "You can get this substance for me? No tricks or deceit or substandard material?"

"I assure you," Quark said readily, holding up his hands. "You could kill my by forcing air away from your bicep when you flex it, I have no intention of double-crossing a space marine. Not to mention the fact that giving you flawed dilithium could have very bad consequences from an entire quadrant. I'll be true to our bargain."

"Very well." Andraeus said, standing up, towering once again over the Ferengi. "Find this ship that you intend to use and I will make sure my absence is not noticed. How long do you need?"

"Meet me at Docking Ring 12 in twenty standard hours." Quark said before nodding and scurrying off. His pulse was racing and he had broken out in a cold sweat. Even if Andraeus couldn't read his mind, he must have heard Quark's heart thundering in his chest. Even drunk Klingons didn't intimidate him the way the space marine had. He rounded a corner and leaned back against the wall, breathing heavily.

Still, he had managed to negotiate a good deal for himself. True, getting the dilithium crystal would be no small challenge, but in return for having the Orion Syndicate off his back, it would be well worth the risk. It also occurred to him that this was one deal he could not expect to back out on, because he couldn't imagine Andraeus failing to complete his end of the bargain.

With any luck, only a few Syndicate members and henchmen would die, since Quark, like everyone else on Heraklion, did not want the scrutiny of any interstellar governing bodies, Ferderation or otherwise. Legitimate organizations made trade difficult, if not impossible, trying to regulate things with moral codes and other superficial nonsense. Wasn't the simple mathematical precision of profit good enough?

He turned around another corner and bumped into Major Kira, who stared down at him impassively.

"Going somewhere, Quark?" she asked, eyebrow raised.

"Uh, just back to the bar, Major," he said warily.

"I see," the Bajoran woman mused, not letting him by. "You need to know that Mister Garak will be accompanying you and Andraeus to Heraklion IV on your little trip. He needs something of his own there and this will be convenient. Do we understand one another?"

If Quark could have gone pale, he would have. He tried to think of what to say. Clearly Major Kira had overheard at least part of the conversation and if Mister Andraeus had noticed her then he had decided not to mention it.

"I don't know how you convinced our guest to go to Heraklion for you, but since we can't really stop him, just let me say that _you_ will be held responsible if anything goes wrong and Captain Sisko has a mess to clean up. Are we clear?"

"Oh, very clear, major. So clear…" Quark said hastily as he moved around her and quickly down the hallway, rubbing his forehead and trying to organize his thoughts. Alright, maybe she knew about taking Andraeus to Heraklion and maybe he now had to bring Garak, but she obviously didn't know about the dilithium or she would have had him in a holding cell by now. The problem now was that she knew he was up to something and would be watching him. How was he going to work this out?

* * *

"Oh, I don't know, brother," Rom said in his somewhat impeded timbre. "I think either choice sounds… well, bad to me."

"I didn't ask you to think, I asked you to choose," Quark replied, exasperated with his brother's reticence. "One of us needs to procure the dilithium and the other one has to make the run to Heraklion."

"Normally I would say the shuttle run, but not with that hu-man on board," Rom protested, looking worried. "His fist is bigger than my head."

"Trust me, I know," Quark muttered. "But we don't really have much of a choice. If we don't help him, he could crush both our skulls and make everyone forget it happened. Besides, at least this way we will be able to access the Trelanian commercial lanes against and make some good latinum. Don't you want the Syndicate off our backs?"

"Well sure, brother," Rom agreed readily. "But I'd like to still have my spine intact when that happens."

"It'll be fine, Rom," Quark said tightly, losing patience. "Now if you're going to make me do this all by myself, I'll make sure you see _none_ of the profit. No risk on your part, no dividends. Got it?"

Rom thought quietly for several moments and finally asked a question. "Uh, which job do you think is safer?"

"If you can keep from annoying him, I would say staying with the space marine is the safest bet," Quark replied. "Even if all of Heraklion IV comes after you, you're likely to not see a scratch once he gets going. If you stay here on the station, you'll have to try and outwit Odo and his security teams to get the dilithium.

"Outwit Odo?" Rom asked warily. "I don't like those odds. I… I'll go in the ship."

"That's what I thought," Quark said, relieved he wouldn't have to spend more time with Andraeus. "Just shut up and do the job, try not to talk to him. Besides, if I know Garak, he won't shut up long enough for you to get a word in edgewise in any event."

Deterred by the thought of matching wits with Odo, Rom now acquiesced to the notion of taking Andraeus to Heraklion. Quark sighed as he watched his younger brother scurry off to begin getting the runabout ready.

"_Splendid," _ he muttered to himself. _"What kind of universe do I live in where trying to outwit Odo is the safer of my options?"_

He wondered what sort of living a Ferengi might have made in Andraeus' Imperium.

* * *

**Author's Notes: **Sorry about the unacceptably long delay, been working as many hours as possible and getting ready for my wedding in August. for all that, though, my stories that I am writing are still on my mind and I am determined to finish them all.

Hopefully I am getting the DS9 personalities right and everyone finds them tolerable. Now that the cat is out of the quantum bag about Andraeus' origins, get ready for some fun twists along the way while he tries to get home.

Hopefully you're all enjoying the good weather. Glory to the Emperor!

- Management


End file.
